Georgia legislators unveiled school safety initiative

ATLANTA, Ga. (WDEF)- Georgia legislators unveiled a series of proposals concerning school safety this week.
 Last September, four people were killed at Apalachee High School just to the east of Atlanta.

The perpetrator in that shooting was a 14 year old student.

Now, state legislators are proposing several initiatives to combat the issue.

This includes the creation of a statewide database to track students with behavioral issues.

Legislators say this would be overseen by the state’s office of emergency management and homeland security agency, and allow for a student’s data regarding any issues to be communicated between agencies.

This would be in addition, like Tennessee, an increase in the penalty of terroristic threats in schools and threat assessment teams.

There would also be an app created to allow anyone to report a threat anonymously. 

In addition to the school safety aspects of this legislation, there is also contention over the safe storage of firearms.

The proposal is to give tax incentives to firearm owners who voluntarily purchase gun safes and other safety equipment.

Republicans argue this protects this second amendment while democrats say it doesn’t go far enough.