Stalled gun safety bills haunt Georgia lawmakers after shooting at Apalachee High School

(Atlanta Journal-Constitution) “What could have been.” Your Insiders heard a variation of that phrase from a half-dozen bipartisan lawmakers who spoke privately in the aftermath of the mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County that left four dead and at least nine others injured.

Some specifically lamented stalled consensus-driven firearms laws after the FBI revealed the 14-year-old suspect was previously investigated for making violent threats. His parents had assured authorities he did not have unsupervised access to their hunting guns.

As we noted on Wednesday, state Republicans are increasingly torn over the party’s approach to gun violence and some are open to new ways to keep weapons out of the hands of children and the mentally ill without running afoul of the gun lobby.

And Georgia Democrats, while still pressing for more sweeping firearms control measures, have shifted their strategy to also focus on more achievable goals in the GOP-led Statehouse.

https://www.ajc.com/politics/politically-georgia/politically-georgia-stalled-gun-safety-bills-haunt-georgia-lawmakers-after-school-shooting/PPKY4ZFRPVD2TK6SBZLMPU2LTQ/