Georgia Republican leader seeks changes after school shooting, but Democrats want more

ATLANTA– The speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives says lawmakers will consider new policies in 2025 to promote student mental health, track guns and encourage people to safely store guns after a gun accident. school shooting killed four people at a high school northeast of Atlanta.

But Republican Jon Burns of Newington has fallen short of Democrats’ demands, including universal background checks, a mandate to store guns safely and a “red flag” law allow the state to temporarily confiscate weapons from someone in crisis.

The proposals Burns made on Thursday are the first policy response to the September 4 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder.

The Republican leader’s gambit comes as he tries to protect his party’s 102-78 majority in the House of Representatives in November’s elections. Debates over gun policy could affect a handful of competitive seats in Atlanta’s northern suburbs, including three held by Republican incumbents.

“While House Republicans have already made significant investments to strengthen safety in our schools, expand access to mental health care, and keep our students safe, I am committed to not only continuing that work, but also to pursuing additional policies that will help ensure a tragedy like this never happens again in our state,” Burns wrote.

It is unclear what the reaction of other prominent Republicans, including Governor Brian Kemp And Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones will wish. Kemp called the shooting “our worst nightmare” hours after the dead teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. Nine others were injured — seven of them shot.

Democrats have criticized Republicans, claiming the shooting was an outgrowth of the GOP loosens gun laws in Georgia.

“What makes this even more devastating than it already is is the knowledge that we had the policy tools to prevent this tragedy from happening in the first place,” Rep. Saira Draper of Atlanta said Friday as she and her fellow Democrats called for a special legislative session on gun violence. “And we didn’t use them because my Republican colleagues chose to gamble with the lives of our children rather than face the wrath of the gun lobby.”

Investigators say the shooting was carried out by 14-year-old Colt Gray, who was charged as an adult with four counts of murder. Authorities charged his 54-year-old father, Colin Graywith second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children. Investigators allege Colin Gray gave his son access to a semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle when he knew the teen was a danger to himself and others.

Burns said he wants to consider information sharing between police, schools and mental health professionals, a nod to the fact that Colt and Colin Gray surveyed in 2023 by a Jackson County sheriff’s deputy over an online post threatening a school shooting. Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said her office not enough evidence found to file charges. It is unclear whether Colt Gray’s previous schools were aware of the threats.

“We are aware that a breakdown in communication between school systems and law enforcement officials allowed the shooter’s prior history to slip through the cracks when he was transferred to Apalachee High School,” Burns wrote.

The speaker also said he wants to expand mental health services for students. The state’s voluntary Apex program sends students to counseling. The program covered 540,000 of Georgia’s 1.75 million students in 2022-23, about 31%.

Burns also wants to explore ways to catch guns before they enter schools. Some schools are using camera systems and artificial intelligence to detect guns instead of metal detectors.

The speaker is proposing to increase penalties for threats against schools, saying he wants to crack down on copycat threats that have been reported since the shooting. Criminal penalties would apply only to those charged as adults, and most of the threats were arrested as juveniles.

Finally, Burns said that Republicans in the House of Representatives are again… promoting safe storage of firearmsThe House passed legislation this year to create a state income tax credit of up to $300 for the purchase of gun safes, trigger locks, other security devices or the cost of firearms safety courses. The Senate favored a bill to exempt gun safes and other security devices from state sales taxes. Both bills were defeated after the chambers failed to reach an agreement.

Democrats received little support for legislation that would have created a felony for negligently failing to secure firearms that children have access to. Rep. Michelle Au, a Democrat from Johns Creek, has pledged to that measure.

The Speaker said he is open to other proposals, saying the House “will explore every reasonable idea and solution to protect and defend the most vulnerable among us – our children – while also protecting the right and privileges of our citizens to protect their families and property.”

Burns argued that previous school safety measures had reduced the number of casualties in Apalachee, helping to fund portable panic buttons that could alert authorities and school counselors who arrived on the scene.

State lawmakers and Kemp previously approved several rounds of one-time security grants, totaling $184 million.

The budget, which began on July 1, includes more than $100 million in continuing funding, enough to provide $47,000 a year to each public school for security. Schools can use that for chosen security purposes, though Kemp has said he wanted to use it to fund a security officer for every school.