Thursday is the 21st anniversary of a deadly school shooting at Frontier Junior High in Moses Lake, Washington. To mark the anniversary, the sister of one of the victims plans to ask state lawmakers to make it crime to not safely store guns.
On February 2, 1996,14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire, killing two fellow students and an Algebra teacher.
Nyla Fritz’s little brother Arnold was one of the victims that day.
“My life is kind of two segments, the life before my brother died and my life since,” she said.
Loukaitis had come to school armed with a .30-30 rifle and two pistols he brought from home. Today, Loukaitis is in prison.
Fritz is a middle school principal near Seattle. On this 21st anniversary of her brother’s death, she will testify in Olympia in favor of making it a felony to not secure a gun that is then used by a child, or someone else who’s not supposed to have gun, to injure or kill someone.
“I can think of no greater honor to my brother’s life than to possibly be doing something on this day to save lives,” Fritz said.
The National Rifle Association calls the gun storage measure vague and says locking up guns can render them useless in a self-defense situation.
