East High School student testifies on gun bills hours after school shooting
Alexander Cisneros (second from the left) testifies in front of the Colorado House Judiciary Committee in support of Senate Bill 170, to expand the state's red flag law, on Wednesday, March 22, 2023. (Hannah Metzger, Colorado Politics)
Published by Colorado Politics on March 22, 2023.
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Alexander Cisneros spent Wednesday morning in lockdown after one of his classmates at East High School allegedly shot two faculty members. Seven hours later, he spent the evening advocating for gun safety in front of the Colorado legislature.
Just before 10 a.m., a 17-year-old student shot and wounded two deans at East High School in Denver during the student's scheduled daily pat down, according to Denver Police. The suspect, Austin Lyle, remained at large Wednesday evening though police found the car associated with him in Park County.
This was the second time East High School was rocked by gun violence this month. Luis Garcia, a 16-year-old East student, died on March 1 after he was shot on the school campus two-and-a-half weeks prior. Earlier in the school year, a freshman was shot near the campus in September and the school went into lockdown after a swatting incident in February.
"Hopefully, my senior year will be a bit better than junior year," Cisneros said. "I find a really good way to deal with all of this is to ask that my legislators take steps to make sure there won't be more of this."
Cisneros, 16, was already planning to testify in support of the pair of gun bills in the House Judiciary Committee before the shooting broke out at his school Wednesday morning.
Senate Bill 168 and Senate Bill 170, respectively, aim to allow victims of gun violence to sue firearms manufacturers and gun dealers in civil court, and expand the state's red flag law to allow district attorneys, educators and medical professionals to seek the risk protection orders.
Those bills passed the Senate last week and are now seeking approval from the House. The third bill in the gun safety package, Senate Bill 169, would raise the minimum age to buy a gun to 21. SB 169 also cleared the Senate and it passed its House committee hearing on Monday.
"Why would we allow a person to be armed when there is evidence that the person will cause harm to themselves or others?" Cisneros said during his testimony in support of SB 170. "While it is a hard decision to make, it is a necessary one when lives are on the line."
Cisneros is not the only East High School student to get politically involved following recent instances of gun violence at the school.
Two days after Garcia's death, hundreds of East High School students staged a walk out, marching from the campus to the state Capitol building. The students flooded the halls of the Capitol for several hours, speaking with legislators and demanding action be taken to prevent gun violence.
Another East High School student, Gracie Taub, was scheduled to testify in the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday but chose not to after the morning's shooting.
“This is the reality of being young in America: Sitting through a shooting and waiting for information just hours before you’re scheduled to testify in support of gun safety bills,” Taub said in a statement. “Our school experience should not be completely shaped by gun violence, and every single incident is traumatizing for our entire community."
Many other shooting victims and family members of victims also testified in the committee Wednesday, including from the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, the Highlands Ranch STEM School in 2019 and the Boulder King Soopers, which marked its second anniversary on Wednesday.