In an all-too-familiar scene that sickens all Americans, a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on Wednesday morning claimed the lives of four people—two students and two teachers—and left nine others injured, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). The incident, which took place around 10:20 a.m., as expected has reignited the usual dash by some legislators, organizations and media to call for more gun legislation before those who were sadly lost have even been mourned. That it is an election year with the office of president on the line will only make such calls more vocal.
In the incident, unlike at Uvalde, Texas, where 21 people lost their lives and 17 others were injured at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2024, law enforcement, school administrators, teaches and even students in Winder were quick to respond, limiting the potential casualties. The suspected shooter, a 14-year-old student, was quickly apprehended after a brief confrontation with a resource officer. The shooter is set to be charged as an adult with murder. Authorities also arrested Colin Gray, the father of the shooter, on charges including involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder for his alleged role in allowing access to the firearm used in the attack, described as an “AR platform-style weapon.”
As investigators continue to gather information, political leaders have begun weighing in on the larger issue of gun violence. President Joe Biden, in an official statement from the White House, called the shooting “another horrific reminder” of the need for stricter gun laws, urging Congress to pass measures such as an assault weapons ban, universal background checks and safe storage requirements. Vice President Kamala Harris, caught up in the middle of a contentious presidential election, echoed these calls, decrying the ongoing “senseless tragedies” that plague American schools.
“It’s a sick and angry world for a lot of reasons and we’re going to make it better. We’re going to heal our world. We’re going to get rid of all these wars that are starting all over the place because of incompetence,” her opponent, former President Donald Trump said Wednesday during a Fox News Town Hall in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp offered condolences to the victims’ families and promised to provide state resources to assist in the investigation, but his office has not commented on any potential policy changes in response to the shooting. Georgia, a state with relatively lax gun regulations, has faced increasing scrutiny for its laws following recent mass shootings. In 2022, Kemp signed legislation allowing residents to carry concealed firearms without a permit, which has drawn both praise and criticism in light of this most recent shooting.
Meanwhile, the Apalachee High School shooting has prompted further calls for legislative action at the state level. A Senate study committee on safe firearm storage was already scheduled to convene, with Democratic lawmakers pushing for stricter regulations that would require gun owners to better secure firearms, particularly in homes with children. Meanwhile, Republicans in the state government have largely focused on expressing condolences and emphasizing mental health and school safety measures over additional gun regulations.
Various organizations have also offered statements on the shooting, some better navigating the politics of the issue than others.
“Our hearts go out to the community of Winder, Georgia, during this difficult time,” said National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) Executive Director L. Earl Franks, Ed.D., CAE. “At NAESP, we believe families of students at Apalachee High School—and in every single school across this country—deserve to send their children to school with the confidence that they will return home unharmed. That is the promise that every school makes to the students in its care, and NAESP will continue to advocate for policies that put children’s and educators’ safety first.”
Meanwhile, Nick Wilson, senior director of Gun Violence Prevention at the Center for American Progress, made the most of his opportunity to call for legislation.
“I send my deepest condolences to all of the loved ones of the students whose lives were lost today, and to the many students who will live with the trauma of today’s attack for the rest of their lives. What happened at Apalachee High School today is not normal, but it is increasingly commonplace. Today’s shooting was the 218th shooting at a K-12 school this year. Children heading back to school should not live their lives in fear,” Wilson said in a statement. “While we are still learning details about the shooter and how the guns used in today’s attack were obtained, Georgia has some of the weakest gun laws in the country. And the risk of this type of attack has only increased since Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) signed a bill that repealed concealed carry permits in Georgia into law in 2022. Commonsense gun legislation saves lives. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Wilson’s numbers are questionable. A USA Today article put the number of shootings at 23, while another article placed the number at 45, both a far cry from 218. The various numbers reveal an obvious disregard for accurate data or at the very least, how to identify a set of data, when it comes to pushing an agenda. Wilson also used the oft-repeated buzzword of legislators seeking to pass gun laws by dressing it up with the label of “commonsense.” But such descriptions undermine the complexity of offering true solutions and serve to simply alienate and politicize a majority of stakeholders in the issue.
Other groups were quick to capitalize on grieving Americans to push more gun laws. The usual ones such as Everytown for Gun Safety, the Brady organization and Giffords all offered their boilerplate statements on passing more laws to stem gun violence, while organizations such as The United States Conference of Mayors, the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association, the National Education Association, the New Jersey Education Association, the ill-named Alliance for Gun Responsibility, even some rando candidate running for U.S. Senate in Florida weighed in to make her political points.
Other groups felt compelled to also least weigh in with statements of support on the tragedy such as the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and a Florida high school, Eustis High, among others. Silent on the issue to this point has been gun rights organizations, where a search of statements online revealed not a single one issued.
As the investigation continues, both sides of the gun debate are gearing up for what is likely to be an intense battle in the months ahead. But for now, the community of Winder is left grieving, as families mourn the loss of two students, 14-year-olds Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and two teachers, Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie.
And again I ask just how would any of their proposed laws, bans, license/permit schemes, taxes, or other regulations have in any way prevented this or any other school shooting or any other violent crime? The only 2 groups protected by any of these bad ideas are criminals and government officials. Leaving the majority of the populace unarmed, and unprotected in the crossfire.
So, an armed good guy with a gun on premises stopped the shooting quickly, which has been totally ignored, by design, by the MSM. An armed teacher may have been able to hold the number of dead to one, and that would have been the shooter.
…..Meanwhile, anyone know the death toll for just Chicongo so far this week? – also totally ignored by MSM, again by design.
“So, an armed good guy with a gun on premises stopped the shooting quickly, which has been totally ignored“
There were actually two armed SRO on premises.
With four dead and nine critically injured, I’m not sure I would tout that as a success story.
It seems the determined shooter wasn’t deterred by armed security and was able to kill 4 humans and injure nine more before they were confronted.
Actually this is evidence against the effectiveness of armed guards at schools.
Single dead digit actually responded to threat vs Uvalde. Come on Temu Miner you can do better.
Kamala Harris Opposed Use of the School Resource Officers Who Saved Lives in a Georgia School > https://www.shootingnewsweekly.com/ccrkba/kamala-harris-opposed-use-of-the-school-resource-officers-who-saved-lives-in-a-georgia-school/
Of course the usual voices are crying for gun legislation, they always do. But please explain what old, or new, legislation would change what happened. The kid had a crappy life with crappy parents. His father told the sheriff that his (Dad’s) guns were locked up and the sone couldn’t access them. Then turned around and bought an AR in his (Dad’s) name and gave it to the son.
You want new gun legislation, then you should cry for more mental health dollars bc that is where the issues really lie. The AR sat in the closet and nothing happened. When the human took it out of that closet is when the trouble began. Its the human, not the inanimate rifle, that cause the shooting.
“…you should cry for more mental health dollars bc that is where the issues really lie.”
Don’t fall for that trap, Bill. We spend more on “mental health” than any entity in the history of the world. Yet, we keep getting worse. We have more people on antidepressant/anti-anxiety meds and/or getting therapy than at any time in the history of the world. Yet, More people are depressed and anxious. What does that tell you? Spoiler alert: continuing to enrich the pharma and gov-subsidized “metal health” industry won’t solve the problems at hand. It’s past time for new solutions that no one wants to talk about.
“you should cry for more mental health dollars bc that is where the issues really lie“
If you want mental health services to be properly funded to address these issues, don’t vote Republican
“205 Republicans Vote Against Bill to Expand School Mental Health Services
Republicans have spent months scapegoating mental health issues as a catch-all for problems like mass shootings.
By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT
Published September 30, 2022
On Thursday, the House passed a bill aimed at expanding access to mental health services in schools that garnered only one Republican vote, despite the party’s ceaseless scapegoating of mental illness for issues in the U.S.
The Mental Health Matters Act passed 220 to 205 on a largely party line vote, with all 205 “no” votes coming from Republicans. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pennsylvania) cast the sole Republican “yes” vote.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-California) and supported by the White House, would provide grants for schools to hire more mental health experts and grow their mental health services, especially schools in areas with high need. It would also provide mental health protections to adults with private health insurance and children and staff in Head Start programs, which are aimed at serving low-income children from birth to age 5.“
The first problem with your post is you are quoting from ‘TRUTHOUT’, one of the leading creators of left wing slant. The second problem with your post is you still don’t know what context means. The third problem with your post is your blind spots and radical extremist left wing beliefs.
But I will admit you surprised me, because you didn’t claim Trump did it.
Same failures, same solution needed for Real school security:
1. Know & screen students AND TAKE ACTION
2. Harden the building
3. Practice lock down/out
4. Armed SRO – close to engage
5. Concealed carry trained staff & teachers scattered over the building especially in halls at class change and entrance ways
“1. Know & screen students AND TAKE ACTION“
So, red flag laws, interesting that you would advocate for these.
By “TAKE ACTION“ do you mean actually a legal action against someone for a ‘pre-crime’, another interesting position for you to take.
What are you suggesting, incarcerate the 13-year-old who made a threat online?
“4. Armed SRO“
Two armed SRO were unable to prevent the shooter from killing four people.
Yet somehow no where near as bad as the last tranny shooting in TN odd that. Almost like mitigating factors were at play.
Nice jump from “take action” to red flag laws, which do nothing but take the person’s guns away. “Take action” should mean to get the distraught person the resources they need to address their issues, sonething that red flag laws completely ignore (because they’re written by groups whose only interest is taking away guns, not actually addressing violence).
“red flag laws, which do nothing but take the person’s guns away“
JFC, isn’t that exactly what should’ve happened when the sheriff’s department investigators came to his house?
And don’t blame dad, 95% of the people posting on this forum advocate no age restrictions whatsoever for purchasing firearms because it’s not in the constitution.
That means the 13-year-old should be able to go out and buy a modern sporting rifle and a 90 round mag, right?
” 95% of the people posting on this forum advocate no age restrictions whatsoever for purchasing firearms because it’s not in the constitution.”
100% Lie.
Ah yes, election season once again.
The attacker was known to the FBI, once again.
Ground hog day as a movie was funnier than this.
How many kids must we kill before you accept gun control? Because we damn sure aren’t going to invest any resources to actually protect the kids like we do with anything or anyone valuable.
How many kids must WE kill?… I can’t speak for you, but myself, and I’d guess the entirety of the rest of the usual posters here haven’t
killed ANY kids.
And that is WHY none of us are “willing” to accept the empty promises of gun control – “Just one more law, this one will surely fix the problem”…. which they also said while passing the other 20,000 gun laws
Stop reread and consider the source. Hint I have a public service union. Probably should have included sarc but honestly it’s a bit too close to the truth.
Safe, I saw it as sarcastic, but with all of the new posters
(Minor Irritant twins) jumping in on anything they see as an opening, I figured I’d close that opening.
Eh fair enough but effectively it is his stance anyway so no biggie.
How many kids must we kill before you accept gun control? Because we damn sure aren’t going to invest any meaningful resources to protect them like we do with anything valuable.
Duplicate response incoming, oddball connection issues 😋
I’ve had the same issue.
“The attacker was known to the FBI, once again“
You can’t blame some wacky conspiracy theory, the FBI referred it to the local sheriff who interviewed the child and his father.
But their hands were tied because Georgia does not have a red flag law, with no crime actually occurring there’s nothing they could do.
How would you have handled the situation were you the sheriff’s department investigators conducting the interview with Colt Gray?
Would you have confiscated dad’s weapons, even though he had committed no crime?
“Meanwhile, Nick Wilson, senior director of Gun Violence Prevention at the Center for American Progress, made the most of his opportunity to call for legislation.”
“I send my deepest condolences to all of the loved ones of the students whose lives were lost today, and to the many students who will live with the trauma of today’s attack for the rest of their lives.”
Ya know, Nick Wilson that advocates for murder zones called ‘school gun free zones’ that specifically attract these mentally ill killers, calls for legislation to ban guns and a constitutional right for law abiding people who did not do this. ‘Cause magically if law abiding people can’t have guns to exercise their constitutional rights it means mentally ill killers will no longer want to kill people with other weapons or guns.
So yeah Nick, you and Kamala and Joe and Everytown and all the other anti-gun groups go ahead and keep expending all that money and resources on trying to take away constitutional rights of law abiding people who do nothing wrong. Because heaven forbid you guys actually, ya know, care enough to expend that money on addressing mental illness and actually securing schools from these mentally ill killers.
But, your ‘deepest condolences’ are enough right?
Your ‘deepest condolences’ looks an awful lot like you metaphorically dancing in the blood of the innocent to further your agenda taking away a constitutional right for law abiding people who did not do this.
How dare you pretend to care. If you cared you would not be facilitating these mentally ill killers.
“that specifically attract these mentally ill killers“
Not in this case, dad made the decision to transfer his son to the school.
Are you suggesting dad intentionally brought his mentally ill son to the school to commit this tragedy?
“If you cared you would not be facilitating these mentally ill killers“
Wasn’t it really is the father who facilitated this tragedy by purchasing a modern sporting rifle for his son?
Yes, Miner49er in this case. You still don’t understand what context means.
“Are you suggesting dad intentionally brought his mentally ill son to the school to commit this tragedy?”
I neither said or suggested any such thing. Stop trying to promote a lie.
“Wasn’t it really is the father who facilitated this tragedy by purchasing a modern sporting rifle for his son?”
So your premise is the father purposely purchased a rifle so his son could shoot up the school with it. That’s a lie, didn’t happen. He was charged with “knowingly allowing” his son to possess a weapon, yet, there is no proof of such that has been bought forth in court. Like always, you seek to jump all over things you know nothing about and accuse.
TL:DR
Same crapola. Rinse and repeat.
Not interested in the usual lies from the Left.
The primary cause of all our modern day problems can be traced back to Leftist policies and cultural degradation by them over the past 50+ years.
“The primary cause of all our modern day problems can be traced back to Leftist policies and cultural degradation“
I think the father was not a leftist, he was freely exercising his culture of gun ownership.
You’re assuming that people with right wing tendencies are immune to leftist policies and the culture that we all live in.
plus 1 to hatethedeepstate
Hyper-emotional people make irrational demands. Film at 11.
“Wilson’s numbers are questionable.”
Of course his numbers are “questionable”. They aren’t real.
These people point to web sites to claim things not real because the web site who pretends to be ‘authoritative’ is using flawed and biased data.
“Georgia has some of the weakest gun laws in the country.”
That’s not true. They abide by the same federal laws every state in the country abides by. What you really mean is ‘permit-less carry/constitutional carry’ where their specific laws still state that a prohibited person can’t have firearms, and they still have laws against crimes and murder. That’s not weak law at all.
As mentioned by ME yesterday obviously daddy let his demon spawn have an AR. Since there are millions of such rifles perhaps we should ban dumb dad’s?!? I never use a sarcasm tag🙄
laws against being stupid would have already sent people like Miner49er and most anti-gun people and left wingers to jail and Joe would not be in office and Marxist Kamala and her emotional support marxist Tampon-valor thief Tim Walz would not be running for office.
Wait…. on second thought, yeah, lets have laws against stupid.
Life can’t be made safe. There is no magic law that will make the evil and insane treasure the lives of others. There has always been some tool available to those who would deliberately harm another from the jawbone of an ass to a stick, or a rock. Humans have a history of murder.
Technology only changes the tool and allows a small woman or old man to defend themselves from a younger stronger assailant. Of course, to understand this you must have the mental capacity to acknowledge men are larger and stronger than women and that a young adult male is faster and stronger than someone three times his age.
Washington politicians swore up and down that they would be able to eliminate violent crime in America if we just pass some gun laws. So the laws they wanted got passed and today it is know as the 1968 Gun Control Act. It didn’t do what they claimed it would do and instead has been used as a club to beat the citizenry over the head with.
Another case of bullying turns bad.
Schools rarely bother with bullying complaints because the usual perps are jocks or coaches, who are valuable to the school’s sports programs. Parents should encourage their kids to report bullying AND the bullied and follow through. Most school administrators try to sweep bullying under the rug, it’s bad for their record.
The only way to stop bullying is to stop people from interacting with one another.
We’re 30 years deep into the war on bullying and all the zero-tolerance, virtue signaling, choose kindness messaging and other nonsense have done absolute fuck all because as long as people interact with other people bullying will exist.
Efforts should be spent on coping strategies and instilling real confidence in kids through accomplishments rather than lying to them with participation awards and demonstrable lies like anyone can do anything and they’re all equal.
Whatever happened to what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger? The boy named Sue didn’t grow up to be a mass shooter, did he? No one even considered it back then.
We’re into the era of “sticks and stones may break my bones but WORDS ARE LITERALLY KILLING MY SOUL AND WARMING THE PLANET AND KILLED THE UNICORNS AND ARE THE REASON I’M A 30 YEAR OLD VIRGIN AND LIVE WITH MY GRANDMA AND CANT KEEP A JOB AND…….”
Hard times are needed to reset the perspectives of an awful lot of very comfortable people who can’t stop complaining about everything from their position of comfort.
“The boy named Sue didn’t grow up to be a mass shooter, did he?“
No, he grew up to be a violent man who would respond to laughter with a physical attack:
“Some gal would giggle and I’d turn red
And some guy’d laugh and I’d bust his head“
Making fun of someone is an invitation to fight, just like flipping them the bird. If you don’t want to fight, then be nice. The point, which went over your head, is that Sue kicked their ass instead of going on a mass shooting rampage.
Also notice the distinction Sue made between a gal and a guy. He treated them differently because they are different. That’s another thing you guys have tried to erase.
MajorLiar,
Hmm, sounds like Sue must have been a Leftist. Pro-“Palestinian” rioters attacking Jewish college students for the crime of . . . being Jewish. Antifa “protesters” beating up journalists for the crime of . . . reporting, ACCURATELY, on their activities. Kamal-toe the Ho overtly saying that she was going to “police” free speech on the Internet.
Yep, Sue had to have been a Leftist/fascist.
But that would require effort and competent teachers and parents……well could work in some places.
Bullying is accommodated by schools, there is No Such Thing as Zero-Tolerance when it comes to bullying. Jocks are too important.
Most major school mass shootings, except for Sandy Hook, are acts of retaliation by the bullied. If your kid is a bully, better be prepared to identify a face that looks like roadkill.
Seems like you need to work on getting over whatever trauma you think you experienced in high school.
I’m not going to quote specific passages but ln places he sounds like an antigunner.