One year after the deadliest school shooting in Georgia history, state elected officials are marking the date by reinforcing their political positions on school safety.
Even as they found common ground on support and funding for youth mental health, Republicans and Democrats reinforced their stances on firearms — views unchanged by the anniversary.
Democrats held a news conference at the state Capitol with students who survived the shooting at Barrow County’s Apalachee High School, emphasizing the need for more restrictions on firearms, including a requirement that gun owners lock up their weapons in secure storage devices.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
The alleged shooter, a 14-year-old at the time, has been indicted on four counts of felony murder, among other charges, in the deaths of two students and two teachers. The child’s father is also facing charges for giving him the gun.
Last year, state Rep. Michelle Au filed House Bill 1, which would have made it a crime to store firearms improperly around children. It did not move in the Republican-controlled Legislature. She vowed Thursday to continue pushing for it.
“Sometimes what has to change is the culture around the issue,” the Democrat from Johns Creek said. “I’m not naive to the fact that this is a very recalcitrant issue. It’s very entrenched.”
Senate Democrats also filed legislation around gun violence prevention, include mandating a 10-day waiting period before making gun purchases, prohibiting firearm access for anyone convicted of family violence, and instituting so-called “red flag” laws that would notify gun sellers if someone seeking to purchase a weapon has been hospitalized for a mental health crisis.
Meanwhile, Georgia Republicans filed bills aligning with their priorities.
“Firearms are not the enemy,” said state Sen. Frank Ginn, a Republican who represents parts of Barrow County and watched the Democratic news conference. “The only way that you stop something like this is to get inside the mental health of those students.”
One measure, sponsored by state Rep. Mark Newton, R-Augusta, would allow gun owners to claim the purchases of gun safety equipment or classes for tax credits up to $300. It passed the House with bipartisan support but did not get heard in the Senate.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law a school safety bill requiring public schools to create plans addressing the behavioral health needs of students and “identify, assess and mitigate” potential threats made by students. The legislation was a priority of House Speaker Jon Burns, who conducted a series of meetings with educators, parents and students throughout the state about what schools needed to make them safer.
“The House remains steadfast in our resolve to ensure a tragedy of that nature never happens in Georgia again,” Burns said in a statement Thursday. “We will continue to strengthen school safety, invest in mental health and protect the future of our greatest blessings — our children.”
Students at the Democratic news conference said they just want to go to school safely.
“I have never been put into such a tragic, traumatizing, evil situation,” said Kyra McConatha, who was a senior at Apalachee at the time of the shooting. “No child deserves to have the fear of having to go to school. No child deserves to experience what we have experienced. It’s not fair.”
She was in her statistics class when she and her classmates heard the first shots being fired through the school.
Remembering training from multiple drills, McConatha jumped over a desk, ran to the other side of the classroom and kept quiet. Then she sent her family text messages letting them know what was happening.
“I did not know if I was going to make it out alive or make it out at all,” McConatha said at the news conference.
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