By Jim Allen, Editor, NuVote Reach

Karissa Marcum, Columbine Survivor and American Hero

A gutsy survivor of the Columbine High School massacre, Karissa Marcum, first told me her story in 2007, when she was a Washington, DC-based intern under my watch, when I worked at The Hill newspaper. Over past few days, since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, she has privileged me to examine and write about her thoughts on the subjects of guns, grief, nagging eternal questions and healing, in the context of a range of punditry and prescriptions to stop the violence in America.

At age 28, Karissa Marcum, (along with an elder sibling) has lived half of her life with the memories of one terrible day in Littleton, Colorado, where two deranged school mates of hers, the shooters, culminated a diabolical murder-suicide pact.

On April 20, 1999, Marcum was a 14-year-old ninth grader. Because her…