State House Speaker Jon Burns endorsed efforts Thursday to expand mental health care access, offer incentives for gun safety purchases and toughen penalties against people who make terroristic threats after a mass shooting at a Georgia high school brought fresh scrutiny of the state’s firearms policies.
Burns told lawmakers he wants to examine a statewide mandate for mental health and behavior monitoring of students to encourage better coordination between administrators and authorities. And he said the House will review new security infrastructure to detect firearms at schools.
Burns is the first senior Georgia Republican to outline a legislative plan to deter gun violence after the Sept. 4 Apalachee High School shooting, which left two teachers and two students dead, along with nine others injured.
It doesn’t meet Democrats’ demands for stiffer gun control restrictions, universal background checks, more leeway for prosecutors to charge parents of school shooting suspects and bans on assault-style weapons and ammunition. Nor is it clear where Gov. Brian Kemp and other Republicans stand on the proposals.
“Listen, I continue to be focused on the community of Barrow County and the high schools and the teachers and the faculty and the kids,” Kemp told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, adding he was briefed earlier Thursday on the latest details of the investigation. “I’m very interested in making sure we learn all the facts before I try to weigh in on my thoughts on different policy issues.”
But Burns’ framework could amount to a launch point for two parties seeking consensus on the divisive issue. Burns told the House GOP caucus the gun safety initiatives could expand when lawmakers convene in January.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
“This is far from an exhaustive list,” Burns wrote in a letter obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “As the 2025 session approaches, we will continue having conversations about implementing common-sense policies that take steps toward securing the safety and well-being of Georgia’s students.”
Democratic leaders said they hope for tougher crackdowns on gun violence. State Rep. Saira Draper said she’s hearing from students, parents and school employees who are “actively traumatized” by the threats and violence. “We need concrete action, and we need it now,” said Draper, who represents an Atlanta-based district. “Isn’t it past time we choose them over the interests of Georgia’s extremist gun lobby?”
A ‘middle ground?’
Over the past decade, Georgia Republicans have muscled through measures loosening firearms restrictions while more limited bipartisan proposals aimed at deterring gun violence have stalled. But bipartisan leaders say they’re hopeful to find a “middle ground” for compromise measures after the tragedy in Barrow County.
Authorities charged 14-year-old Colt Gray with four counts of felony murder. His father, Colin Gray, is charged with second-degree murder, accused in arrest warrants of giving the teen access to the semiautomatic weapon used in the shooting “with knowledge that he was a threat to himself and others.”
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
Burns’ letter noted lapses that could have prevented the tragedy. Jackson County authorities questioned the boy and his father in 2023 based on an FBI tip about disturbing behavior, but local school officials have no record of being notified about the investigation. Burns called it a “breakdown in communication.”
“We must ensure our schools have the tools they need to coordinate resources for students who require mental health intervention,” he said.
Gray’s mother, Marcee Gray, and other relatives have told reporters they tried to notify the school about the teen’s potential threat, including a warning the morning of the shooting of an “extreme emergency” involving the boy.
“My heart breaks for the 2 teachers who gave their lives while in the service of teaching and protecting our children,” Gray said in a statement. “We are all in a living nightmare right now, and I will personally never forgive myself for what has happened.”
‘All rational ideas’
In the letter, Burns told House Republicans that one-time security grants and other school funding increases in recent years “prevented a much greater loss of life.” Other policies that lawmakers will consider, he wrote, could “help ensure a tragedy like this never happens in our state again.”
One proposal on Burns’ list that already has broad bipartisan support is legislation that would offer gun owners tax incentives for purchasing gun safety equipment. The House and Senate passed similar versions of such a measure this year, but they couldn’t hash out differences before the session ended.
Credit: Benjamin Hendren
Credit: Benjamin Hendren
Burns said the proposal will reemerge next year because “simple measures such as storing guns in lockboxes or equipping firearms with trigger locks has the ability to save lives.”
Lawmakers also seem likely to consider increasing penalties for those making threats at schools. Dozens of students are facing charges after making “copycat” threats in school systems across Georgia after the Apalachee shooting.
“We cannot allow these irresponsible and unsubstantiated threats to divert valuable time and resources from local law enforcement and school resource officers,” Burns said.
It’s less clear what specific steps lawmakers will consider to expand mental health care access, the focus of a yearslong effort initiated in 2022 by Burns’ predecessor, the late House Speaker David Ralston.
Though Burns has far-reaching influence under the Gold Dome as leader of the state House, he’ll need support from other top Republicans to ensure the policies become law.
The governor has yet to outline his stances on gun safety measures, saying immediately after the shooting that the focus should be on the grieving Barrow County community. Kemp ran for office in 2018 on pledges to expand gun rights and has signed rollbacks of firearm regulations into law.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, the president of the Senate, has said he was open to “all rational ideas,” but has stopped short of endorsing a specific gun safety policy. (Last year, he traveled to Barrow County to unveil a proposal to pay Georgia teachers to carry weapons in classrooms. It didn’t pass.)
Burns could face pushback from Democrats who want more sweeping policy changes, including “red flag” laws that temporarily take firearms away from gun owners who have been identified as a danger to themselves or others.
“I appreciate the fact that he acknowledges it’s the start of a conversation,” state Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta, said of the speaker’s blueprint. “But I’d argue that it’s well past time. How many more shootings do we need for it to be the right time?”
And Burns’ plans could be opposed by GOP activists who view any attempt to toughen gun safety standards or increase penalties as an infringement on Second Amendment rights.
“Any time you start taking away peoples’ rights, you have to be careful,” said Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega. “You need to take a very careful approach to these measures.”
Acknowledging those concerns, Burns told House lawmakers the chamber’s proposals will strike a delicate balance.
“It will be our priority,” he said, “to ensure we properly examine every reasonable idea and solution to protect and defend the most vulnerable among us — our children — while also protecting the right and privilege of our citizens to protect their families and property.”
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