Call for Action on Gun Safety: Over 100 Students with Colorado Students Demand Action Mobilize for Gun Safety at the Colorado Capitol

Students Demand Action Hosted Over a Hundred Young People at the Capitol Today to Encourage Further Advancement of SB25-003 

Advocacy Day Comes After SB25-003 Advanced Out of Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee On Tuesday Night

Over 40 Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action Volunteers, Gun Violence Survivors, and Everytown Experts Testified in Support of the Bill 

DENVER — Today, Colorado lawmakers and Executive Director of Moms Demand Action Angela Ferrell-Zabala joined over 100 Colorado Students Demand Action volunteers calling for action on gun safety during their first inaugural Colorado Students Demand Action Advocacy Day.  Students from across the state rallied in support of Senate Bill 25-003 and then met with over 30 lawmakers. Students Advocacy Day comes just two days after SB 25-003, Colorado’s Semiautomatic Firearms & Rapid-Fire Devices bill which would expand Colorado’s 2013 ban on high capacity magazines to military style firearms that accept detachable magazines, advanced out of the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee. 11 Students Demand Action student leaders, along with 30 Moms Demand Action volunteers and Everytown gun and policy experts, testified in support of this bill. 

“All we’re asking for now is that Colorado lawmakers uphold the state’s existing laws. We’ve worked too hard to pass these policies for them to not be fully enforced,” said Kimaya Kini, lead of the Cherry Creek chapter of Students Demand Action. “Closing the high-capacity magazine ban loophole is a basic, common sense step we can take to stop someone who wants to shoot as many people as possible, in as little time as possible. And we must take it.”

“Students came to the Capitol today because young people aren’t just the leaders of tomorrow, we’re the voices of today and we demand our lawmakers prioritize our lives over the profits,” said Vi Macdonald, a volunteer leader with the Denver East High School Students Demand Action chapter. “We shouldn’t have to miss school to advocate for our safety, but we will. There’s nothing more important to us than making sure our generation is the last generation that ever has to face America’s gun violence crisis.” 

High-capacity magazines make shootings more lethal by increasing the amount of ammunition that can be fired before a shooter needs to pause to reload. In 2013, Colorado wisely enacted a law prohibiting magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds of ammunition. 

While Colorado already has a ban on high capacity magazines, high-capacity magazines are legally sold in every single state neighboring Colorado and the high-powered, military style firearms that are compatible with high-capacity magazines are currently legal to purchase in Colorado. This makes the current ban easy to evade because someone can easily just go buy a magazine in a neighboring state. Legislation to amend the state’s high-capacity magazine policy to also ban the purchase and sale of military-style firearms that accept detachable high-capacity magazines would close this loophole and save lives. 

Colorado continues to strengthen their gun violence prevention policy. This year Colorado rose to number 10 for the strength of its gun laws, according to the 2025 “Gun Law Rankings” created by Everytown Research, passing over 19 gun violence prevention bills in this past decade — at least six bills in just 2024.

 In an average year, 977 people die and 1,392 are wounded by guns in Colorado. Guns are the second leading cause of death among children and teens in Colorado, and an average of 84 children and teens die by guns every year. Gun violence in Colorado costs $2,039 per resident each year. Gun deaths and injuries cost Colorado $11.7 billion each year, of which $156.1 million is paid by taxpayers.