Columbine Dad Arrested

By Stephen M. Silverman

06/15/2001 at 11:23 AM EDT

Tom Mauser, the father of slain Columbine High School student Daniel Mauser, was arrested on Wednesday outside the National Rifle Association headquarters in Fairfax, Va., after refusing to end his one-man march. Tom Mauser, described by the Denver Rocky Mountain News as a nationally known gun control advocate, wore his son Daniel's athletic shoes for the protest and demanded a personal response from NRA president Charlton Heston. (None was apparently given.) Mauser is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 22. Before his arrest, Mauser marched upon the headquarters with a large photo of his son and then sat in a busy driveway. He reportedly refused to leave, even after Fairfax County police warned that he would be arrested for trespassing. "I've had worse things happen in my life, much worse things," Mauser told officers before being handcuffed and placed into a patrol car. The Columbine High School massacre occurred on April 20, 1999, when students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold stormed their school with firearms and explosives, killing 13 people and wounding 23 others before killing themselves.