Beck Glover from Coweta County did not plan to walk out of class Wednesday to memorialize 17 killed in February mass shooting at a Florida high school.
It’s not that he isn’t horrified by what happened.
The issue is that the protest movement for many metro Atlanta teenagers has a decided bent toward demanding new gun control laws -- from signs local students were holding to politicians seizing the issue in their expressions of what the day was about.
Like a sizable segment of Georgians, Beck doesn't see guns as the problem. His experiences with guns are positive. The 16-year-old grew up hunting with his grandfather and father. He not only plays on the Newnan High School lacrosse team, he also target shoots competitively as a part of a popular Georgia 4-H program.
Looking at the number of gun owners in Georgia and those who participate in shooting sports, and knowing that the schools where walkouts were organized were clustered in the metro Atlanta area, it’s clear that many Georgians are less committed to gun control as an answer to stopping mass shootings.
You can read what some Georgia gun owners say in the full story on MyAJC.com.
About the Author
