Alfonso Calderón Atienzar (born October 10, 2001) is a Spanish-American student activist against

gun violence Gun-related violence is violence against a person committed with the use of a firearm to inflict a gunshot wound. Gun violence may or may not be considered criminal. Criminal violence includes homicide (except when and where ruled justifiable ...

. He is a survivor of the

Stoneman Douglas High School shooting On February 14, 2018, a mass shooting occurred when 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire on students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, part of the Miami metropolitan area, Parkland, Florida, killing 17 people and injuring 18 ot ...

and a founding member of the Never Again MSD movement.

Early life and activism

Calderon was born in a Spanish town outside

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

called

Alcobendas Alcobendas () is a municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. It forms an urban continuum with the neighbouring municipality of San Sebastián de los Reyes. The affluent residential area of La Moraleja lies within the municipal l ...

, and he has been living in the United States since 2008. Calderon criticized lawmakers for failing to enact sensible gun laws as well as screenings to keep mentally ill people from being able to buy "military grade weapons", and he criticized the

National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...

(NRA) and their spokesperson

Dana Loesch Dana Lynn Loesch ( ; ; born September 28, 1978) is an American radio and television host, TV host. She is a former spokesperson for the National Rifle Association and a former writer and editor for ''Breitbart News''. Loesch was the television ho ...

for encouraging gun proliferation as well as politicians funded by the NRA. He said that student voices were not being taken seriously enough. He described a proposal of

arming teachers Arming teachers is equipping teachers in preschool through secondary school with firearms with the intent to prevent casualties from School shooting, school shootings. Such proposals have engendered public debate regarding with whom the respons ...

to further school safety as a "terrible idea", explaining that teachers were never meant to carry lethal weapons.Tampa Bay Times, Bill Maxwell, March 1, 2018
Maxwell: Reasonable people do not want teachers to be armed
Retrieved March 22, 2018, "... I watched 16-year-old Alfonso Calderon ... speak with CNN’s Don Lemon about President Donald Trump’s proposal to arm teachers. This young man’s wisdom, his clear understanding of the essential role of teachers, should shame Trump and other Republicans beholden to the NRA...." He views his advocacy as more than merely protecting Parkland students but as an effort to save human lives in general. He believes that it is up to the electorate to vote out politicians who support lax gun regulations and the NRA. During the school shooting, he was locked in a closet with fellow students for three to four hours.

Notes

References

External links

CNN video

MSNBC video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calderon, Alfonso 2001 births Living people American child activists American founders American gun control activists People from Parkland, Florida Parkland high school shooting activists People from Alcobendas Spanish emigrants to the United States Spanish activists