Georgia gun laws explained as four die in school shooting

Georgia prevents minors from owning guns, but has few restrictions for adults seeking to carry

Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia, is the latest school across the US to experience a mass shooting as part of the country’s gun violence epidemic, with four killed and scores injured on Wednesday morning.

Apalachee student Colt Gray, 14, has been named as the suspected shooter, and is alive and in custody, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The shooting has prompted scrutiny of Georgia’s gun laws.

“After decades of inaction, Republicans in Congress must finally say ‘enough is enough’ and work with Democrats to pass common-sense gun safety legislation,” President Biden said in a statement. “We must ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines once again, require safe storage of firearms, enact universal background checks, and end immunity for gun manufacturers.”

Here’s what you need to know.

What kind of gun was used in the Apalachee school shooting?

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday said the school shooter used an AR-style rifle in the killing.

Earlier in the day, the FBI revealed it previously investigated the suspect for allegedly making online threats to commit a school shooting.

Gray’s father described keeping hunting guns in the house, but said Gray didn’t have unsupervised access to them.

What are Georgia’s gun laws?

If the shooter was indeed a teenager, they wouldn’t have lawful access to buy a handgun, rifle, or shotgun under state law and federal law.

Individuals must be 18 or older to purchase handguns in the state, according to the Giffords Center, and federal law imposes the same age limit for the sale of shotguns and rifles, per the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.

Police on scene of school shooting (EPA)

Meanwhile, minors also cannot possess handguns under Georgia law.

Overall, Everytown for Gun Safety ranks Georgia as number 46 of 50 in terms of the strength of its gun laws, describing the state’s policies as “some of the weakest” in the nation.

Adults in Georgia don’t need a permit to buy rifles, shotguns, or handguns, don’t need to register their guns with the government, and don’t need a permit to carry rifles and shotguns, according to the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action.

In 2022, Georgia enacted a permitless carry law, repealing provisions requiring people to obtain a license and be subject to fingerprinting and a background check before carrying concealed weapons in public spaces.

How bad is gun violence in Georgia?

Georgia is in the upper third for firearm mortality across the US.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Georgia is ranked 15th in the county, with 19.7 gun deaths per 100,000 residents, putting it just outside the category of the largely conservative, Southern states with the most gun violence deaths.

Have there been other recent mass shootings in Georgia?

Sadly, today’s shooting in Barrow County isn’t the first time in recent years a mass shooting has occurred in Georgia.

In 2021, Robert Aaron Long allegedly shot and killed eight people across three Atlanta-area massage parlors.

Two years later, military veteran Andre Longore killed four people in Hampton, Georgia, before being killed himself during a police manhunt.