Tolerance waning for zero-tolerance rules

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By Valerie Richardson

DENVER | Ten years after the Columbine massacre, some states are losing their tolerance for the zero-tolerance policies that proliferated in the aftermath of the nation's deadliest high-school shooting.

A week before Colorado marked the 10th anniversary of the iconic tragedy Monday, the legislature sent to the governor a bill making an exception in the state's zero-tolerance policy on weapons in schools. And on the day after the anniversary, Texas lawmakers will take more steps toward loosening their state's rules.

Colorado state Sen. Kevin Lundberg said he proposed the legislation in his state after Marie Morrow was expelled for leaving three facsimile drill-team rifles in her car in the school parking lot. She missed six days of school before a school hearing officer allowed her to return, after the story made national headlines in The Washington Times and elsewhere.

The bill isn't exactly sweeping - it allows students to bring facsimile or prop rifles to school as long as they leave them in their cars - but it passed unanimously in both houses. Efforts to do more were met with "pushback," said Mr. Lundberg.

"We tried to add a little common sense," said Mr. Lundberg, a Republican. "I wasn't trying to challenge zero-tolerance policies on dangerous weapons; I was trying to define what a dangerous weapon is."

Coloradans honored the Columbine victims Monday with gestures both sober and hopeful.

Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. ordered flags lowered at half-mast for the day, while the state legislature approved a resolution calling Columbine an example of "triumph over tragedy."

"Colorado will not just become a metaphor for tragedy, but that we can triumph over the worst of humanity," said state Rep. Ken Summers, who was working as a pastor in the Columbine area at the time of the shooting.

Twelve students and one teacher were killed a decade ago when two student gunmen stormed the school. They earlier had planted pipe bombs in backpacks throughout the campus and a larger bomb, which failed to detonate. The two committed suicide before a SWAT team stormed the building.

Gun-control advocates held a rally Monday outside the state Capitol, where 13 people lay on the ground to symbolize those slain by the two gunmen. A memorial service was scheduled for Monday evening at the Columbine Memorial at the park next to the school in Littleton, Colo.