Atlanta (AP) – A day after the Republican house speaker Jon Burns unveiled the safety of school safety, democrats and families of Apalachee High School, said they want more – namely laws for arms safety.
Both efforts to curb the gun violence come months after a massive shooting in Apalachee, the school northeast of Atlanta, where a 14-year-old boy is accused of killing two teachers and two students and various others last 4 September.
The morning of the shooting, senior Isabel Trejo was concerned about an upcoming test in the mathematics lesson with teacher Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall. He died later that day, one of the four fatal victims. When the shooting began, Trejo told the legislators in the Capitol on Tuesday: “The minutes that followed felt like an eternity.”
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“I crawled under a desk and prepared myself mentally for the shooter to come to my class and started shooting,” Trejo said.
Trejo joined Apalachee Families and Ismael “Junior” Angulo, whose brother Christian Angulo died in the shooting, for support laws.
She praised the efforts of Burns, but said that the state needs arms safety laws to prevent a new tragic shooting.
“The speaker Burns’s plan focuses on what happens when a firearm is already at a school. The bill of Dr. AU ensures that firearms are safe, so they are not in the first place, “said Layla Renee Contreras, a former Apalachee student with a change for Chee, a community group created after the shooting to argue for school safety.
According to research by Johns Hopkins, Georgia had the eighth highest gun murder speed in 2022 and firearms was the most important cause of death for young people aged 1-17 years.
Democrats have insisted on weapon control with little success. Republicans, who check the Staatshuis and the Senate, have opposed most of those efforts. Republican government Brian Kemp’s loud support for arms rights helped him win his election and brought him national attention. In 2022 he signed a law with which people could wear a gun without a permit issued by the State.
However, all this went on for the shooting on Apalachee. Some Democrats hope that the tragedy will encourage enough Republicans to set up their call for action.
“The families of Apalachee and Barrow County did not go any further, and we owe it to them to give this issue the attention and work it deserves, even in an environment where the challenges for progress seem to be discouraging,” Au said.
AU suggested tax credits up to $ 300 for buying safe storage devices, such as weapons and trigger locks. Burns says he supports tax stimuli. A dual group of legislators adopted those credits in the house last year and the Senate approved a similar bill, but none of them was due to the other room.
AU also proposed processes for background controls, which probably do not receive republican support.
Another bill that she introduced would make it a crime to give a child access to a gun, including not securing or omitting somewhere – a proposal that is also made by Senator Elena Parent, a democrat in Atlanta. It also requires that companies draw up signs about those regulations. That bill has one republican co-sponsor, rep. Sharon Cooper from Marietta. The 14-year-old arrested in the Apalachee shooting party, Colt Gray, reportedly the semi-automatic attack rifle used in the attack of his father. Father and son are both confronted with murder attacks.
Parent has also proposed to drive someone who has been convicted of having family violence by having weapons. She also introduced a bill that would require a hearing process if someone who was involuntarily admitted to the hospital wants their data to be wiped out. Georgia’s Crime Information Center is currently wiping out that information five years after hospitalization.
Decatur -Democrat Senator Emanuel Jones introduced a bill to create an emergency alarm system and database for threats. Schools should offer mental health care to students who make threats. He also suggested a program for the entire stands to share information about arms safety.
On Monday, the father of the killed teacher Aspinwall ‘was behind Burns in the Capitol to support his proposals. The plan calls for more information -parts by schools and police about reported threats, as well as students with disciplinary or mental health care, the risk of committing violence. The proposal also calls for new ways to connect students with counseling.
The governor suggested giving public schools an extra $ 50 million for school safety last month, but it did not include money for school advisers and counseling for mental health care that officials asked.
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Kramon is a member of the corps for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non -profit National Service Program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.