A decision Wednesday by Front Range schools to cancel classes during a massive manhunt for a young woman believed to be a threat reignited unresolved debates over the role of guns in Colorado classrooms and American society.

Hundreds of schools from Fort Collins to Douglas County were shuttered during the search for 18-year-old Sol Pais, an armed Florida woman who police said was “infatuated with Columbine.” Pais was found dead near Mount Evans on Wednesday morning.

For partisans and ideologues on both sides of the national gun debate, Pais’ threats and the closures they caused only reinforced their views. They took to social media, the most frequent battleground of gun debates, to voice their opinions alongside constant news updates.

“You know what would have made me feel better today?” asked House Minority Leader Patrick Neville, a survivor of the 1999 Columbine massacre, on Twitter Tuesday night. “Knowing good guys with guns would have been able to protect my kids. Instead, we let an 18-year-old girl terrorize our students. We need to make school safety a priority.”

Shannon Watts, the Colorado-based founder of the national gun control group Moms Demand Action, responded to Neville on Twitter: “We let them? Or you did?”

“As a Colorado lawmaker, why would you approve of an out-of-state teen buying a long gun and ammo with no permit or training?” Watts asked Neville. “Given the laws you oversee, this teen is a ‘good guy with a gun’ until she shoots someone.”

Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, called it “horrific” that a mentally unstable person could fly to Colorado and quickly buy a shotgun. “If this isn’t a reason to support better gun safety measures, I don’t know what is,” Fenberg said on Twitter after Pais’ death was announced.

Jim Pfaff, chief of staff for Colorado’s House Republicans, blamed Wednesday’s school closures on gun-free zones and inadequate state funding for school resource officers. He told a former Democratic lawmaker, “You are complicit in exposing schools to harm.”

To that, Watts replied, “There were armed security guards at Columbine — and at the scenes of many other mass school shootings. This mentality of ‘300,000,000 easily accessible guns isn’t enough’ is what’s killing American kids.”

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, an Aurora Democrat who made gun control a focal point of his campaign last year, said Coloradans cannot complacently accept the environment of gun violence and school shootings that forced Denver parents to tell their kids about Wednesday’s closures.

“The fact that many of these parents were teenagers themselves during Columbine and now, twenty years later, are being forced to relive that fear as parents disturbs me to my core,” he said. “Gun violence and the threat of it have become a public health crisis in our country.”

Much of Colorado’s congressional delegation weighed in to say Wednesday’s closures must not become the new normal. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Denver Democrat, said, “No child should live in fear of going to school, and no parent should live in fear of their child never making it home.” Rep. Joe Neguse, a Boulder Democrat, said, “We cannot sit by as gun violence remains the national norm, and our children continue to grow up in an environment constantly targeted by threats.”

“As a parent and Coloradan,” said Sen. Cory Gardner, a Yuma Republican, “we were all shaken by the disturbing events today and yesterday. My heart goes out to all those for whom this week is a solemn reminder of friends and loved ones lost at Columbine High School 20 years ago.”

The debate over access to guns, never far away in a metro area that has witnessed a number of high-profile shootings, focused in the state legislature this year on a red-flag bill that will allow judges to temporarily seize firearms from people believed to be a threat. Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill into law Tuesday, and it will take effect next year.

But for some on the political left and right, Wednesday’s school closures, coming three days before an anniversary of the Columbine shootings, were a time for reflection rather than rancor.

“We know that there is a lot of anxiety right now in Colorado,” said Polis in a statement before Pais was found, urging Coloradans to share the young woman’s photo and report any information they had. “Coloradans have a history of coming together in times of need and now is no different. Our biggest priority is keeping our children safe.”

After Pais was found dead, the governor said, “It’s times like these that help us appreciate friendship, family, and community. Today, parents across Colorado – including me – are hugging their children a little tighter.”