Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia, has become the site of another tragic mass shooting, which took place Wednesday morning and left four individuals dead and many others injured. The suspect, identified as 14-year-old Colt Gray, has been taken into custody and is alive, as confirmed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Reports indicate that the FBI had previously looked into Gray due to alleged online threats connected to a potential school shooting.

Gray's father mentioned that while they kept hunting guns at home, he ensured that Gray did not have unsupervised access to them. Following the shooting, there has been an intense focus on Georgia's gun legislation, with President Biden urging lawmakers to collaborate on comprehensive gun safety reforms. He expressed the need to reinstate the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, alongside urging for universal background checks and better regulations on gun storage.

Legally, if the shooter is indeed a teenager, he would not be able to legally acquire a handgun, shotgun, or rifle due to both federal and state laws in Georgia, which stipulate that individuals must be at least 18 years old for these purchases. Moreover, minors are prohibited from possessing handguns under state law. Unfortunately, Georgia's gun laws are considered weak, ranking 46th out of 50 states in terms of regulatory strength, as noted by Everytown for Gun Safety.

In Georgia, adults can buy rifles, shotguns, and handguns without requiring a permit, and there are no requirements for gun registration or permits to carry rifles and shotguns. The state enacted a permitless carry law in 2022, which eliminated the need for licensing and background checks before carrying concealed weapons in public.

Gun violence remains a significant issue in Georgia, where the state is among the higher rates of firearm mortality in the U.S. According to CDC data, it ranks 15th with 19.7 gun deaths per 100,000 residents, placing it just outside the group of predominantly conservative Southern states that face the highest gun violence rates. Furthermore, Georgia has witnessed other mass shootings in recent years, with notable incidents occurring in 2021 and 2023 that resulted in multiple casualties.