Remember the clear plastic backpacks, metal detectors and false bomb threats?

If you attended a high school that understandably freaked out after the Columbine tragedy, these things probably still stick out in your memory. Everything, from the repeated video of students running out of the high school during the shooting, to the names Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, probably isn't hard to recall.

So, where will Jeff Weise fit in with those memories?

Weise is the 16-year-old who killed seven people and injured others in Minnesota's Red Lake High School on Monday. He also killed two people, including his grandfather, prior to going to the school.

A number of parallels - from the killers' fascinations with Hitler to asking victims if they believed in God before they shot them - exist between the two incidents. Generally, they are warranted. All three killers were dark figures who were outsiders at their high schools.

Therein, perhaps, lies the problem. The Weise incident is shocking, but for some reason its severity just hasn't sunk in as deep as what happened at Columbine High School. Columbine turned the world upside down; all of the sudden, child psychologists were all over TV airwaves trying to dissect the adolescent mind. Schools canceled class at the slightest uneasiness and everyone was committed to keeping such a tragedy from occurring again.

With Columbine setting the precedent for shocking school attacks, America seems to have become desensitized. There doesn't seem to be the same fury stirred up over Red Lake as there was Columbine. Instead, the general reaction has been to parallel the two incidents and say, "Look what happens when we let our guard down."

That mentality is both unsettling and unproductive. This country needs to be severely affected by this incident. It needs to have the same sympathy for Red Lake, Minn., that it gave to Littleton, Colo., in 1999. It's obvious not enough has changed after Columbine, so turning a blind eye to it isn't the solution. The country needs to use this occurrence as an opportunity to really get to the bottom of these deep-seeded issues.

An interesting parallel between these three killers, and in other copycat incidents, is they usually leave messages of their intent long before they carry out the act. Some, such as in this latest case, were online for all to see; others were delivered to class members who didn't take them seriously. Although everyone said these signs needed to be heeded after the Columbine massacre, that sentiment needs to be reaffirmed.

People need to discuss what happened, make it matter, and then turn the discussion toward where they live. Attention should be returned to seeking out troubled students who are on the brink of committing such atrocities. They need to be brought back into functioning society.

The attention given to Jeff Weise has to stretch beyond the repugnance and horror of the act and into the realm of problem solving. No one wants to get to the point where being shot is an accepted hazard of attending school.