![\"gun](\"http:\/\/www.davecullen.com\/img\/killers-caf.jpg\")
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Monday marked the tenth anniversary of the so-called Columbine Massacre, when two teenagers killed 12 classmates and a teacher in a shooting rampage at a high school in Littleton, Colorado. Tom Mauser, whose son was murdered that day, marked the occasion by calling on the Obama administration and the U.S. congress to pass legislation closing a loophole that the Columbine killers exploited to arm themselves. Coming on the heels of that plea, Senator Frank Lautenberg introduced a bill yesterday that would extend the Brady background check system to sales of arms at gun shows. At present, the loophole exists in more than thirty states in the nation. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence also released a report yesterday in conjunction with a press conference held by Senator Lautenberg. The Brady study called \u201cNo Check, No Gun,\u201d revealed that a sizable unregulated market exists for gun sales as forty percent of such purchases are made through unlicensed dealers in absence of a background check. In the ten years since the Columbine Massacre almost 300,000 people in the U.S. have been killed by gun violence. <\/p>\n