Alfonso Calderon

Alfonso Calderón Atienzar (born October 10, 2001)

Parkland shooting

On February 14, 2018, 17 students and staff members of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were killed and 17 others were injured in a mass shooting. At the time, it was the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

During the school shooting, Calderon was locked in a closet with fellow students for three to four hours. At the time of the shooting, Calderon was 16 years old and junior at the high school.

Activism Four days after the shooting, Calderon and others had co-founded an activist movement they named "Never Again", which advocates for stricter background checks prior to gun purchases. and he criticized the National Rifle Association (NRA) 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 to further school safety as a "terrible idea", explaining that teachers were never meant to carry lethal weapons. 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.