State Could Be First to Mandate Student Weapons Checks

Georgia could become the first state to mandate every student be checked for weapons when arriving daily at public school. A bill is nearing passage to require weapons detection systems in a further reaction to a 2024 school shooting that killed four, per the AP. "That rifle would have never reached our hallways," says Daria Leszczynska, a junior at Apalachee High School in Winder, where the shooting took place. Some schools have long used metal detectors or required students to carry clear backpacks. Now, a new generation of tech marries computer analysis with cameras or the same electromagnetic fields as metal detectors to unearth knives and guns. The systems have spread rapidly through schools, arenas, stadiums, and hospitals.

• "It's very commonplace for me to walk through a weapons detection system when I enter into a courthouse," says Chuck Efstration, the bill's sponsor and GOP house majority leader. "Georgia's students and educators deserve similar security, with weapons detection systems inside of every Georgia public school."
• There's little rigorous research nationwide proving that weapons detectors prevent school shootings, and in Georgia, there are questions about who will pay what can be $10,000 or more per system. School employees must staff checkpoints and search bags. And even supporters of the systems say searchers can become dulled by a multitude of false alarms and miss the few actual weapons.

• Some question whether weapons detectors are necessary in elementary schools, as Efstration's bill mandates. Those who find Georgia's gun laws too permissive also say installing weapons detectors everywhere is a form of surrender, accepting that society will be awash in guns and violence.
• It's unclear how many schools nationwide use them. A Department of Education poll found that in the 2021-2022 school year, 6.2% of all schools and 14.2% of high schools nationwide required random metal-detector checks; only 2.4% of all schools and 6.2% of high schools required daily metal-detector checks. Checks were more likely to be required when a school was in a city, when the majority of students were nonwhite, and when large majorities of students were poor.
• A Senate committee on Monday passed an amended version of Efstration's bill, meaning it needs final votes in the Senate and House before reaching Republican Gov. Brian Kemp's desk for his signature or veto. More here.