The Students Demand Action group continued their streak of legislative activism at the Colorado State Capitol on Thursday, participating in a state-wide SDA Advocacy Day. The aim of the event is to get students into the building and have them meet with legislators and aides in order to advocate for gun violence prevention measures. 

Creek’s SDA group attended the advocacy day, hoping to share their support of Senate Bill 25-003, an introduced piece of legislation that would regulate semi automatic firearm attachments and sales.

“We give up a lot every day just to go to school in fear, but we are also giving up our school day, our general flow of our lives, to be here,” senior and Creek SDA co-president Kimaya Kini said. “[People] have to be willing to sacrifice a piece of their guns, which they don’t need, in order for us to get our safety back.”

SB25-003, which is sponsored by both democratic house and senate members, aims to limit the amount of mass shootings in Colorado by preventing the “manufacturing, distributing, transferring, selling, or purchasing a specified semi automatic firearm.” The bill passed a committee vote on party lines, after hundreds of people attended hearings and watched live streams of the bill’s first introduction on Tuesday. 

“This is a first-of-its kind bill,” SDA Organizing Member Lizzy Weber said. “It’s super important in making sure that we are saving lives, because high capacity magazines allow for rounds to be fired off very quickly, taking lives very quickly.”

The day began with a press conference, after almost 100 students and members of SDA gathered at the Capitol. Students, organizers, and members of the state legislature, including Senator Tom Sullivan (D-27) and Representative Meg Froelich (D-3), all spoke to the press on the steps up to the Senate and House floors. 

“Too many Coloradans already have stories [of gun violence] because their leaders fail to act. And I don’t have a story like that yet, and I’d like for it to stay that way,” Kini said during her speech. “So I got involved in this fight, which is why I’m here to

Students who attended the rally also discussed their school’s individual programs and goals, as well as how their programs had impacted them. 

“I realized you do have a lot of impact in the ability to meet with actual agendas and make real differences,” sophomore and Regis SDA President Carter Ferris said. “And so our goal is really to just get as involved as we can and really try to make as many good results as possible.”

For Kini and many other SDA advocates, the day served as an opportunity not only to help argue for a bill, but also to educate people on gun control more generally.

“We are always trying to teach people that locking up your guns is the best way to keep people safe, that we aren’t against guns, and that we just want you to use them appropriately and not to hurt other people,” Creek teacher and SDA club sponsor Molli Harper said. “So we really do try to put an education platform out there too about how you can keep your guns safe.”

After the press conference, many students began to meet with senators, representatives, and aides from various offices to help further their stance and advocate for SB25-003. Kini and other creek students attended meetings with members, including aides from Govenor Jared Polis’ office, Senate President James Coleman (D-33), House Majority Leader Monica Duran (D-23), Representative Eliza Hamrick (D-61), and more. 

The group considered advocacy day a big success overall. Many highlighted how it was important for students to be involved in the legislative process, and how their effort had paid off. 

“This is a really awesome opportunity for [students] to really have their moment and plan their own thing and have a whole day planned around their own messaging,” Weber said. “They’ve been hard at work for so many years in passing so many amazing bills, and I’m just so proud of them. It’s going to bring me to tears.”