Around 200 people have been killed in school shootings since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. On Monday afternoon, a Colorado family laid one rose for each victim on the steps of the state Capitol building. 

Stacy Ravenscroft placed the roses with her husband, sister and step-mom, along with the Centennial family’s 11 children. 

Ravenscroft said she wants to send a message to state lawmakers and other leaders to take action to prevent school shootings. Ravenscroft’s family first laid roses last year following the shooting in Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 elementary students and two teachers. This year, the display was prompted by the murders of three children and three adults at a school in Nashville, Tennessee last week. 

“Every time this happens, we’re going to be out here adding to the number,” Ravenscroft said. “We’re just parents who think something needs to be done to secure our schools.” 

Ravenscroft said they laid 206 roses on Monday, with the name of each victim they represent written on a paper card. The roses were red for the student victims and white for the teachers and staff. 

The display was held on the same day that first lady Jill Biden visited the state Capitol to tout Colorado’s investment in higher education and workforce training. It also came within an hour of Colorado senators voting to send two gun bills to the governor for final consideration: One to raise the age to purchase firearms to 21 and another to expand the state’s “red flag” gun law. 

But Ravenscroft said she doesn’t think this kind of legislation will necessarily solve the issue of school shootings. Instead, she called for funding to allow schools and districts to bolster security and secure buildings. 

“We have full grown adults going in and targeting our schools. Our leaders need to do more to make sure these people cannot get in,” Ravenscroft said. “It’s just not enough for them to stop at legislation. … It is reckless and it’s going to cost more lives.” 

This is the fourth school shooting demonstration at the state Capitol in the last month. The first three revolved around shootings at Denver’s East High School, which brought hundreds of students and teachers to the Capitol to demand gun control after a 17-year-old student shot and wounded two school administrators on March 22 and a 16-year-old student was fatally shot on campus on March 1.