ATLANTA — The top lawmaker in Georgia’s House introduced a seven-point plan on Monday to stop school violence before it starts.
Speaker Jon Burns wants to avoid another tragedy like the one that happened at Apalachee High School.
Channel 2′s Richard Elliot heard from the father of one of the Apalachee High School victims about his thoughts on the proposed bill.
If passed, the plan would apply to all Georgia public schools.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Richard Aspinwall Jr. was a football coach at Apalachee High School who died trying to protect his students.
On Monday, his father, Richard Aspinwall Sr., said that this bill is his chance to do the same thing for all Georgia students.
As Burns unveiled his Omnibus School Safety Bill, Richard and Rita Aspinwall stood over his shoulder at the steps inside the Georgia Capitol.
“I’ve been working with Barrow County representatives for a couple of months after this tragedy, meeting with them, discussing ways that we can change things,” Aspinwall said.
Among other things, Burns’ plan would create a school and student database operated by the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA) to collect and evaluate data to determine if a student may be a threat.
It would create threat assessment teams, build an anonymous threat reporting app for students, increase penalties for students making terroristic threats, and create tax incentives for buying safe gun storage devices and taking a gun safety course.
Johns Creek Democrat Michelle Au, who authored her own safe storage bill, applauded the proposal but said it didn’t address the underlying issue of how did a 14-year-old boy get access to his father’s firearm.
“I do agree that incentivizing purchase of safe storage equipment is good, right? But I worry that it’s not quite muscular enough of a measure to directly address the issue,” she said.
Richard Aspinwall admitted he wanted the bill to go farther too, but also said he’s happy with this final product.
“Not as far as I wanted. I made some suggestions. Of course, they were very strict. Me being an old general superintendent, they didn’t come across well,” he said.
The bill will now head to a House committee where, with the backing of the speaker’s office, it’s expected to pass.
TRENDING STORIES:
- People with hacked SNAP accounts are out of luck after federal program expires
- Man driving stolen car in serious condition following shootout with Clayton County deputy
- Church pastor heads nationwide ‘40-day fast’ from Target after DEI policies rolled back
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2025 Cox Media Group
