MOUNT MORRIS TOWNSHIP, Mich. — For Kayla Rolland's mother, every day is an emotional struggle as she grapples with the loss of her 6-year-old daughter, shot to death by a first-grade classmate nearly a year ago.
"Kayla's constantly in my thoughts, in my prayers. She keeps urging me to go on and not sit there and curl up in a corner," Veronica McQueen said.
On Feb. 29, 2000, Kayla was in class at Buell Elementary School when she was shot once in the chest with a .32-caliber semiautomatic pistol. Police said a 6-year-old boy pulled the trigger, using a gun he found in a shoe box inside the "flophouse" where he had been living.
When the call came from school officials, McQueen thought her daughter had broken a leg. After the news finally sank in, McQueen took a leave of absence from her job to concentrate on her other daughter, 12, and 10-year-old son.
"There's still so much pain, so much hurt. My children talk about her all the time," McQueen said. "I don't think it's ever going to get easier."
On Saturday, about 100 friends and family, many wearing pink ribbons, gathered at a memorial service for Kayla.
Her death has highlighted the poverty faced by many in this working class community of 25,000. It also has fueled debate over new gun legislation, set to take effect in July, which would make it easier to carry a concealed weapon.
Michigan is the first state in more than four years to liberalize its concealed weapons law, but more than a dozen states have similar laws.
Proponents of the legislation say stricter laws would not have prevented Kayla's death, nor tragedies like the massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School.
"The gun laws had nothing do with Columbine, with Buell. . . . The shooters in both instances broke numerous gun laws," said Ross Dykman, spokeswoman for the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners.
McQueen is not swayed by such arguments. Last May, she joined the Million Mom March in Washington, D.C., where she spoke of the need for gun-safety devices and gun control.
Three men were convicted after the shooting. Two, including the boy's uncle, pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges. The third, Jamelle James, pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to two to 15 years in prison for leaving the pistol in the shoe box.
The boy, too young to be charged, now lives as an only child in a foster home.
"It surprises me and it doesn't that you can have an incident that touched the hearts of so many people and then have elected representatives who hide behind the skirts of a bunch of special interest people," said prosecutor Arthur Busch, who is lobbying to have the proposed law put to a referendum before it is adopted.
For many, it has been hard to erase the memory of Kayla's shooting.
"I don't think it's the type of thing you move on from," said Ira Rutherford, who retired as school superintendent in June. "I think you learn to live with the pain but I don't think you ever move beyond what happened."
More than half of the families in Buell's school district live in poverty, according to federal estimates. Many are also dealing with the presence of drugs and guns.
Tamarla Owens, whose son was accused of shooting Kayla, was evicted from her home for nonpayment of rent just before the shooting.
Her two boys, now 7 and 9, went to live with her brother. The boys' father, in jail on unrelated charges, said people at the house traded crack for guns.
"I accept responsibility for leaving them there. Basically, the thought that went through my mind (was), 'It's my brother, I know he'll take care of them," Owens said.
Three men were convicted after the shooting. Two, including the boy's uncle, pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges. The third, Jamelle James, pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to two- to 15 years in prison for leaving the pistol in the shoe box.
Owens' son, too young to be charged, now lives as an only child in a foster home.
"We get him all the therapy he needs to help him through this," Owens said. "Maybe when he's older he may realize what really happened."
Busch said he believes the boy still doesn't grasp the gravity of Kayla's death.
"To him it was like a TV show, you know, like a cartoon. He was a little guy with no front teeth, big eyes and a big smile," said Busch. "It's still not over yet."
On the Net:
National Rifle Association: www.nra.org
National Organization for Victim Assistance: www.try-nova.org