Georgia lawmakers debated what safety measures can be implemented at schools across the state to reduce gun violence in the aftermath of the shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County.
Members of the Georgia Senate Safe Firearm Storage Study Committee on Thursday discussed what should be done to prevent more school shootings, as there is now an increased sense of urgency to address safety concerns following the shooting on Wednesday, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
“When it comes to these bills, we are trying to put up safeguards to make it, whether you are a bad actor or have a mental health issue either way, we can make it difficult for you to have a weapon in Georgia,” Democrat state Rep. Yasmine Neal said at the committee meeting.
Four people were killed, and nine others were wounded in the school shooting on Wednesday. The suspected shooter, identified as 14-year-old student Colt Gray, was taken into custody and charged with felony murder.
The two students killed in the shooting were identified as Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, while the two adults killed were identified as Math teachers Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie.
The Georgia Senate committee is now considering what new measures can be added to curb gun violence while at the same time protecting the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
“The human mind, we never know what’s going to happen one day to the next, but we can control that weapon, we can secure it, and we can lock it up,” said Democrat state Sen. Emanuel Jones, who chairs the committee. “We can hold those who own that weapon responsible for the use of that weapon. There are things that we can do.”
The committee highlighted that Georgia lawmakers earmarked additional funds for security at schools last year, and this funding included money for school resource officers.
“The thing we need to figure out, the nut we haven’t been able to crack, is how do we get to these youngsters that are going into schools and shooting them up,” Republican state Sen. Frank Ginn said.
A spokesperson for the group Georgia Moms for Change, Sarah Walker, appeared emotional while speaking at the committee meeting as she called on state lawmakers to take action to help put an end to gun violence in schools in the Peach State.
“The thought of sending a child to school and never seeing your child again is a uniquely American nightmare,” Walker lamented. “Thoughts and prayers are good, and necessary, and needed, but legislation, policy is going to fix the problem that we have.”
The shooting suspect’s father, Colin Gray, 54, faces multiple charges over the alleged actions of his son, including four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children. Authorities said the elder Gray knowingly allowed his son to possess a weapon.
