Columbine Then And Now: Survivor Believes In Teachers With Guns

Evan Todd still has sharp memories of April 20, 1999. As a sophomore at Columbine High School, he was in the library with his friends on that cool, sunny morning, attempting to write a paper but really just goofing off, throwing around wads of paper.

In an instant everything changed. Todd described an explosion, smoke, and then pops of gunfire echoing through the hallways. He felt a rush of adrenaline as panic set in around him.

"I remember thinking, someone with a gun has got to come in here like any day, you know," Todd said. "You just think they're going to come in and stop these guys and we're gonna get out of here. And, nothing."

Todd watched as the two killers murdered his classmates, execution-style.

"One of them kneeled down and put a gun to my head and said, 'Why shouldn't we kill you?'" remembered Todd. "And so when they came up to me, I really thought, this is it, this is the end of my life."

The killers didn't pull the trigger. Todd survived.

His experiences that day have informed his thinking on safety and guns. Todd now believes a teacher who is allowed to carry a firearm can make a difference during a school shooting. He is a gun owner and a concealed carry permit holder himself. Earlier this year, Todd testified at the Colorado statehouse in favor of a bill that would allow people to carry guns on school grounds and has done some public speaking on the issue .

"What actually stops these from happening? And in the world we live in, a firearm is one of those ways," said Todd, speaking about school shootings. "And a firearm would have saved lives at Columbine."