DENVER — On Thursday, for the sixth year in a row, a bill that would allow concealed carry permit holders to have guns on school grounds was defeated in the Colorado legislature.
But for the first time, a man named John Castillo was there to testify during committee debate over the legislation.
“Let me start out by saying, six years this bill has been around. A long time. How many shootings have taken place?” he asked.
The answer is one. There’s been one school shooting in Colorado since 2014 – the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting on May 7 of last year. Castillo’s son, Kendrick, died that day.
John Castillo testified in favor of House Bill 1040, sponsored by House Minority Leader Patrick Neville (R-Castle Rock), which ended up failing on a party-line vote. Six Democrats in the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee voted against, and three Republicans voted in favor.
Castillo testified, at times tearfully, that while he has the greatest respect for law enforcement, he believes armed school staff are better able to take immediate action, especially in a rural area where response times may increase.
He hoped legislators would look at the bill from a new angle in 2020.
“Let’s look at what happened in a matter of seconds where somebody was able to defend. That’s all I’m asking,” Castillo said. “We need to truly believe at the end of the day they’re going to return home to us. That morning I walked to the edge of our driveway and I watched my son drive away. I didn’t see him for a week and a half, until he was in the mortuary.”
Castillo vowed in his testimony to continue showing up to legislative meetings and community events to share what happened to his son and discuss his ideas for change.
The same committee considered House Bill 1099 on Thursday, as well. The bill would have repealed the ban on large-capacity gun magazines in Colorado but it failed with the same vote.
A 9Wants to Know investigation found last year, however, that many gun stores sell large-capacity gun magazines in spite of state law by breaking them into parts.
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