Father of Columbine Victim Reacts to Boulder Shooting

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Your son was killed during the Columbine school shooting in 1999. And I just wonder, because you have spent all these years in activism trying to change the political dynamic around guns, what was your thought when this happened again in Colorado?

TOM MAUSER, FATHER OF COLUMBINE VICTIM: Well, first, you think, well, why Colorado again? But, actually, it came even closer to home for me, because I got a call yesterday afternoon from a friend whose daughter was at that store. And the gunman had run past her. They were very glad that she was not shot. Some people in the store helped her escape. But it really brought home how pervasive this problem is in America that I could have a family friend — in fact, his daughter was adopted from China at the same time, on the same trip that we adopted our daughter from China. And it’s so pervasive that it touches so many people. And she’s probably traumatized by this, as so many Americans are.

AMANPOUR: Tom, that is really too close to home for you, I mean, to have a friend whose daughter could have could have been killed. Your son all those years ago was killed. You went to the State of the Union. You hope, I think beyond hope, that legislation can do something thing to rebalance this very dramatic imbalance in the gun reality. You heard maybe what President Biden said today, that assault rifles should be banned, the AR-15 and the like. And although we don’t know the motivation of the shooter, we’re told by his brother, who has been speaking, that he had mental issues, that he was potentially bullied. He was a Muslim in school. But we also have been told that he may have used a modified AR-15. Again, all the facts are not yet in. But what hope do you have for a federal coming together? Because it seems to be necessary, even though the grassroots activism is quite successful and quite out there right now.

MAUSER: My hope is that we have people in Congress, particularly who are Republicans, who will start listening to the people and not just to the gun industry. The fact is that we have over 90 percent of Americans supporting strong background checks, universal background checks. And yet the Republican Party is not willing to listen to them. Mitch McConnell would not even let it be heard in committee. And, most likely, the filibuster is going to kill any chances of passing that bill. We need to have people listening to what the American people are saying.