Two decades after the Columbine shooting in Colorado, gun reform efforts have found new life in the nation's capital.

House Democrats have already passed two gun bills this year; the Democratic 2020 presidential contenders are embracing tougher gun laws as a centerpiece of their campaign platforms; and even some centrist lawmakers representing volatile swing districts are racing toward an issue that, for decades, has been considered a potential career-killer on Capitol Hill.

"We finally reached a point where the momentum has shifted on this debate and people overwhelmingly within my community want commonsense gun violence prevention," Rep. Jason CrowJason CrowClark rolls out endorsements in assistant Speaker race Trump-Afghan deal passes key deadline, but peace elusive Cook shifts 20 House districts toward Democrats MORE (Colo.), a freshman Democrat who represents a district a mile away from the site of the Columbine tragedy, said by phone Friday, a day before the 20-year anniversary. "Certainly, I think we've reached a tipping point after way too many of these tragedies."

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Crow is a testament to the changing tide in Washington's approach to the Second Amendment. Last November, he picked off a veteran Republican, former Rep. Mike Coffman Michael (Mike) Howard CoffmanColorado mayor says he called protesters 'domestic terrorists' out of 'frustration' Colorado governor directs officials to reexamine death of Elijah McClain in police custody Petition demanding justice for Elijah McClain surpasses 2 million signatures MORE, with a campaign message that featured a full-throated promotion of tougher gun laws. As he headed into the Saturday anniversary of the Columbine shooting in his district, where he described a "somber" mood, Crow said he was merely responding to the wishes of voters.

"Folks haven't moved on. ... There's no moving on for these families," he said. "I campaigned a lot on gun violence prevention, and I did so because there was demand in the community."

That wasn't always the case. In the two decades after two high schoolers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher at Columbine, Congress enacted several laws loosening gun restrictions but adopted no new limits on the sale or ownership of firearms.

For Democrats, the reluctance to tackle the issue was rooted, at least in part, in the perceived blowback from the passage of the assault weapons ban in 1994, which was seen to hurt the party in subsequent elections, particularly in gun-friendly states such as Arkansas, Michigan, Washington and West Virginia. When former Vice President Al Gore Albert (Al) Arnold GoreBusiness groups start gaming out a Biden administration Cruz says Senate Republicans likely have votes to confirm Trump Supreme Court nominee 4 inconclusive Electoral College results that challenged our democracy MORE lost his home state of Tennessee in the 2000 presidential race, the ban was considered a factor.

The political environment sapped the Democrats' appetite for taking up gun reform legislation on Capitol Hill. In 2010, when Democrats controlled the House, Rep. Mike Quigley Michael (Mike) Bruce QuigleyDemocrats introduce legislation to revise FDA requirements for LGBT blood donors Tucker Carlson sparks condemnation with comments about deadly Kenosha shooting Hillicon Valley: Three arrested in Twitter hack | Trump pushes to break up TikTok | House approves 0M for election security MORE (D-Ill.) requested hearings on background checks, only to be refused.

In the absence of federal action, states have moved to fill the void — usually following horrific mass shootings. Colorado adopted its own universal background check system after Columbine and tightened gun laws again after another massacre in an Aurora movie theater in 2012.

But some lawmakers lament that the calls for action fade too quickly with the passage of time.

"The tragedy, at least at a local level, is more traumatic," said Rep. Ed Perlmutter Edwin (Ed) George PerlmutterCongress needs to finalize space weather bill as solar storms pose heightened threat OVERNIGHT ENERGY: 20 states sue over Trump rule limiting states from blocking pipeline projects | House Democrats add 'forever chemicals' provisions to defense bill after spiking big amendment | Lawmakers seek extension for tribes to spend stimulus money House Democrats add some 'forever chemicals' provisions to defense bill after spiking major amendment MORE (D-Colo.). "Action is taken, and then it kind of subsides for awhile."

Indeed, after the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., then-Speaker John Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year's primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE (R-Ohio) vowed to move on gun reform. Four months later, when the political pressure had softened and a Senate bill had failed, Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year's primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE shelved the issue altogether.

The sands seem to have shifted in the 2018 cycle, when a long list of Democratic newcomers picked off Republican seats on vocal promises of fighting for tougher gun laws. Aside from Crow, that list includes Reps. Colin Allred (Texas), Sharice Davids Sharice DavidsTrump asked Chamber of Commerce to reconsider Democratic endorsements: report Races heat up for House leadership posts GOP leader says he doesn't want Chamber's endorsement: 'They have sold out' MORE (Kan.), Lizzie Fletcher (Texas) and Lucy McBath Lucia (Lucy) Kay McBathThis week: House returns for pre-election sprint House Democrats' campaign arm reserves .6M in ads in competitive districts Black Lives Matter movement to play elevated role at convention MORE (Ga.), whose son was killed in a shooting.

"The politics have changed," said Peter Ambler, executive director of Giffords, an advocacy group started by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was nearly killed in a mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., in 2011. "This has gone from an issue that was considered a third rail to one on which candidates in states all across the country — blue, red and purple — are getting elected."

Ambler noted, with some amazement, that his group was still active in Fletcher's Houston district in the latest stages of her campaign.

"If I had told you even just a few years ago that in the closing weeks of the 2018 midterms we'd be spending millions of dollars going after John Culberson John Abney Culberson2020 Democratic Party platform endorses Trump's NASA moon program Bottom line Ex-Rep. Frelinghuysen joins law and lobby firm MORE on the issue of gun safety, you would have probably told me that I was nuts," he said, referring to the former GOP lawmaker defeated by Fletcher.

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Democratic leaders have taken notice. In February, Speaker Nancy Pelosi Nancy PelosiHoyer: House should vote on COVID-19 aid — with or without a bipartisan deal Ruth Bader Ginsburg lies in repose at Supreme Court McCarthy threatens motion to oust Pelosi if she moves forward with impeachment MORE (D-Calif.) brought to the floor a background check bill as one of her first priorities in the new Democratic majority. It passed easily, 240 to 190. Eight Republicans supported the measure, while two Democrats defected in opposition.

The bill has little chance of being taken up in the GOP-controlled Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellFEC flags McConnell campaign over suspected accounting errors Poll: 59 percent think president elected in November should name next Supreme Court justice Mark Kelly: Arizona Senate race winner should be sworn in 'promptly' MORE (R-Ky.) has joined most in his party in opposing virtually all gun restrictions. Republicans argue that tougher gun laws would be ineffective in combating gun violence while eroding Second Amendment rights.

But Democrats are hoping to use the issue on the campaign trail heading into 2020 and consider it a promise of what they intend to do if they win the Senate and White House next year.

"Mitch McConnell might not want to take this up all he wants," Rep. Mike Thompson Charles (Mike) Michael ThompsonHouse Democrats unveil green tax package The Hill's Coronavirus Report: BIO's Michelle McMurry-Heath says 400 projects started in 16 weeks in biotech firms to fight virus, pandemic unemployment total tops 43 million Gun control group rolls out House endorsements MORE (Calif.), the chairman of the Democrats' gun violence prevention task force, said Friday in an interview. "But the fact of the matter is the American people want it taken up, and it's going to catch up with Mitch McConnell sooner rather than later."

McConnell's office declined to comment on Friday.

The road to the Democrats' newfound embrace of gun reform has been paved with bloodshed. The Columbine massacre was, at the time, the deadliest school shooting in the nation's history, but it has since been eclipsed by even more lethal episodes. The 2007 Virginia Tech shooting resulted in the death of 32 people; the Sandy Hook massacre led to the death of 26, including 20 young children; and last year, a lone gunman killed 17 students and administrators at a high school in Parkland, Fla.

Outside the classroom, mass shootings in recent years have targeted African American churchgoers in South Carolina, worshippers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and country music fans on the Las Vegas Strip. In 2017, Rep. Steve Scalise Stephen (Steve) Joseph ScaliseHouse GOP slated to unveil agenda ahead of election House panel details 'serious' concerns around Florida, Georgia, Texas, Wisconsin elections Scalise hit with ethics complaint over doctored Barkan video MORE (La.), the Republican whip, was shot by a gunman targeting the Republican baseball team.

The threat of new violence has plagued the Columbine anniversary this week, when an 18-year-old Florida woman said to be "infatuated" with the massacre flew to Denver and purchased a shotgun. Authorities say she killed herself on Wednesday but not before the manhunt led to the shuttering of the area's schools, affecting hundreds of thousands of students, including Crow's children.

"It underscored that fact that, you know, if nothing else, this issue has gotten worse, much worse, since Columbine," said Crow, a former Army Ranger.

Perhaps most significant to the debate is the fact that the rash of prominent shootings has led to a profusion of new gun reform groups, which are spending millions of dollars on advocacy and helping shift public sentiment in overwhelming favor of changes such as expanded background checks.

Yet another factor has been the 2008 Supreme Court decision solidifying the right of individuals to bear arms under the Second Amendment. While gun control advocates decried the decision, it has also tempered the argument from gun rights proponents that reformers are out to ban firearms altogether.

"Folks who, in the past, were opposed to any debate, discussion or legislation on gun violence prevention understand that there's not this conspiracy to take away everybody's guns," said Thompson, a Vietnam veteran and gun owner. "There's an idea that the one major gun organization was able to peddle that fear for so long seems to have changed."

Thompson's reference was to the National Rifle Association (NRA), a lobbying behemoth on Capitol Hill that's opposed to virtually any new restrictions on the sale or ownership of firearms. That group, too, has changed its tune since the Columbine shooting. In 1999, it advocated for universal background checks. Now it opposes the idea.

The NRA did not respond Friday to a request for comment.

Perlmutter said background checks would almost certainly be a first order of business if the Democrats gain control of Congress and the White House in 2020. Meanwhile, he said he's struggling as Coloradans relive the Columbine tragedy after 20 years.

"I realize," he said, "I'm a lot more raw about it than I thought I was."