Back in August, Romero shared startling footage of armed men walking through her Aurora apartment building, igniting that city's controversy over Venezuelan gangs.
"We had these criminals terrorizing us. We were all low-income and just trying to survive...both my car and my husband's car were riddled with bullets," Romero says in the ad, which was posted on social media on Thursday, March 20. "It was terrifying. Without the ability to defend myself, I likely wouldn't have survived."
The ad, titled "Defenseless," was released by the Colorado State Shooting Association (CSSA), the state affiliate of the National Rifle Association. In a March 20 press release, the group claims that "Senate Bill 3 will deprive victims of access to common firearms" and that "Colorado politicians want to restrict firearms, except for themselves and their friends."
On August 18, Romero's front door camera at her apartment at the Edge of Lowry captured armed men walking through the hall, and she later shared the video with local TV stations. The footage went viral after it was posted online on August 28, and national and international headlines followed, claiming that Aurora had been taken over by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Venezuelan prison gang.
The Aurora Police Department later announced that six armed men in the video were wanted for charges of burglary and menacing with a firearm related to the August 18 incident. According to APD, the men were looking for someone in the unit across from Romero's and later shot at the person they were looking for in the parking lot of the Edge, which led to Romero's car being "riddled with bullets," as she mentions in the ad. Five of the men in the video have since been arrested, with one still at large, but APD has never confirmed that they're members of TdA.
Romero initially shared the video anonymously while she moved out of her apartment with the help of local conservative politicians Danielle Jurinsky and John Fabbricatore, but she later identified herself as the one who shared the video.
She soon became one of the faces of the TdA takeover of the Edge of Lowry, speaking about her fear of the gang on Dr. Phil Primetime in October and at President Donald Trump's campaign rally in Aurora a few days later.
Now Romero is using that public profile to shoot down SB 03, which seeks a statewide ban on semi-automatic rifles that take detached magazines that can feed the gun more ammo. Supporters say it will slow down mass shooters, but opponents say it's an unconstitutional gun grab.
A few dozen protesters gathered at the State Capitol on March 10 to oppose the Democrat-sponsored bill after it had passed the state Senate, right before it was heard by the Colorado House Judiciary Committee. The measure passed that hearing along party lines, and is scheduled for a second reading in the full House floor today, March 20. If passed, it would take effect on September 1.
The CSSA claims SB 03 "could strip low-income victims like Romero of their ability to defend themselves...while exempting those who can afford the bill's expensive permitting process."
“Cindy’s story shows why Senate Bill 3 is wrong for Colorado," Huey Laugesen, the CSSA executive director, said in a March 20 statement. "We can’t let this bill leave our most vulnerable defenseless."
Sign the petition to demand Governor Polis veto Senate Bill 3: https://t.co/rnQHwqUcu6
— Colorado State Shooting Association (@CSSA1926) March 20, 2025
Visit https://t.co/saOn7Z9QPo to learn more. pic.twitter.com/WdHl2mPpvx
