Georgia gun laws explained as four die in school shooting

Apalache 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.

A suspect in the killings is alive and in custody, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation , and a law enforcement source told CNN the individual is a 14-year-old boy with undetermined ties to the school.

Officials have not yet described what type of weapon was used in the shooting.

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 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.

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.