I am numb after learning about the recent shooting in Boulder, Colorado.

I live an hour away from Boulder, but news of the shooting brought me back to a time I soon forget. December 2003 Arapahoe High School experienced its darkest hour. All three of my children attended Arapahoe High School. The shooting that took place left its mark like a tattoo in my soul. I will never forget the angst I felt waiting to hear whether my friend's son was safe. He was a senior at Arapahoe. No one should go through such turmoil. His teacher locked the classroom door, and the shooter could not come in. Her quick action saved many lives that infamous day in December 2003. All three of my children had already graduated, but my youngest son knew the student that lost her life.

To date, we had nine shootings in Colorado. Why? What is driving these individuals to take the life of innocent people? Some experts say there is a correlation between a mass shooting and violent video games. I think it takes a lot more to drive a person to murder. I am prone to believe these individuals suffer from mental issues. Mental issues can surface from so many factors. For example, the boys from Columbine High School were victims of bullying. Eventually, they planned to take revenge on those that had subjected them to harassment. 

Here are what experts say can trigger mental illness:

• Genetics. Mental illness often runs in the family.
• Environment. Living in a stressful environment can make you more likely to develop a mental illness. Things like living in poverty or having an abusive family put a lot of stress on your brain and often trigger mental illness.
• Childhood trauma. Even if you are no longer in a stressful environment, things that happened to you as a child can affect you negatively.
• Stressful events: Losing a loved one
• Negative thoughts. Constantly putting yourself down or expecting the worst can get you stuck in a cycle of depression or anxiety.
• Drugs and alcohol: Abusing drugs and alcohol can trigger a mental illness. It can also make it harder to recover from mental illness.
• Brain chemistry. Mental illness involves an imbalance of natural chemicals in your brain and your body.

We can send men to the moon, but we can't figure out how to prevent mass murders. Politicians use these unfortunate killings of innocent people to drive their political agendas. We have a problem in Colorado, and I am not confident we can find a solution. How on earth did Ahmad Al-Issa get his hands on the weapon he used to kill ten people? We have Universal Background Checks, Red Flag gun seizure laws, and "Hi-Capacity" magazine bans. Are we to conclude that we are doomed? Have people lost their humanity? My heart goes out to those that have lost loved ones in this senseless act of violence. We must do better. Two mass shootings in a different state are too much. I hope Boulder and Atlanta will heal from this tragedy.