One day later Deadly shooting at Apalachee High School Authorities are releasing more details about the gun used in the incident in Winder, Georgia. two students and two teachers And nine others were injured.
The suspected shooter, Colt Gray, was the latest person to use it. A type of weapon commonly used in mass shootingsIncluding fatal school shootings Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Parkland, Florida, and Robb Elementary School Along with the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas Buffalo, New York, supermarket and on Las Vegas Strip,
Here’s what to know about the gun that authorities say was allegedly used 14-year-old suspectWho has been charged with four murders.
What gun was used in the Georgia school shooting?
The weapon used by the suspect was an explosive, officials said on Wednesday. AR-Style Platform RifleThese weapons, based on the AR-15 design, are lightweight, semi-automatic rifles that are popular with consumers. While often called “assault rifles” — a term that gun advocates say is misleading — the “AR” stands for ArmaLite, the company that developed the original AR-15.
High velocity shells fired from this type of weapon bone fractureBut Thousands are sold every year,
How did the suspected Georgia shooter get the gun?
In connection with the incident in Winder, Georgia, CBS News has learned that police and federal agents are investigating whether the suspect received the weapon as a gift from his father, Colin Gray, in December 2023, according to four federal law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.
The 54-year-old father was arrested on Thursday. He has been charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
“These charges arise from Mr. Gray knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a firearm,” GBI Director Chris Hosie said at a news conference Thursday night.
During the 2023 investigation Online firing threatsAccording to the incident report obtained by CBS News, local police spoke with the suspect’s father, who said he owned rifles for hunting, but the teen did not have unsupervised access to them.
Are these guns legal in Georgia?
Georgia law prohibits minors from owning handguns, but there is no minimum age limit to own a rifle or shotgun in Georgia. The state also has some restrictions for adults who want to own firearms.
According to state and federal law, teens would not be legally allowed to purchase handguns, rifles or shotguns. Giffords CenterA person must be at least 18 years of age to purchase a handgun in Georgia, while federal law sets the same minimum age for purchasing shotguns and rifles, as stated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Is gun violence too prevalent in Georgia schools?
Over the past decade, Georgia ranks 10th in the nation for gun violence on school campuses per 100,000 people, and 16th for fatal school shootings per capita, according to one report. CBS News analysis of the data K-12 school shooting database and population estimates from the 2020 U.S. Census.
What are Georgia’s gun laws?
Adults in Georgia do not need a permit to purchase rifles, shotguns or handguns, nor are they required to register their firearms with the government. Additionally, no permit is required to carry rifles and shotguns, according to the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action.
In 2022, Georgia passed a law allowing the carrying of weapons without a permit, eliminating the need for licensing, fingerprinting, and background checks to carry concealed weapons in public places.
Georgia’s laws are among the least strict in the country, according to a CBS News analysis.
Does Georgia have a red flag law?
Extreme risk protection orders, commonly known as “Red Flag” LawsAllows a court to order the temporary removal of a gun from a person who is considered a risk of harming himself or others. Twenty-one states have such laws in place, but Georgia is not one of them, according to Everytown, a gun safety advocacy group.
Georgia state Representative Gabe Okoye, a Democrat whose district is near Winder’s, told CBS News Red flag laws in Georgia could have prevented the Apalachee High School shooting.
“If we had a red flag law, I believe this would not have happened, because the child had been flagged several times before,” he said.
In some states, family members can file extreme risk protection orders. In other states, petitions can only be filed by law enforcement. Petitions filed by law enforcement tend to be successful before a judge, and the court can order guns to be removed from the home or stored safely either inside or outside the home, said April Zeoli, an associate professor at the University of Michigan who studies these laws.
Zeoli said there are more challenges in approving petitions filed by family members because “it is easier for law enforcement agencies to understand the whole process than for citizens because they know what will be considered as evidence and what will not.”
How successful are red flag laws in preventing mass shootings?
Zeoli is directing a six-state study on extreme risk protection orders — the largest in the U.S. Zeoli said preliminary data collected by the research team on about 6,500 cases filed in states such as Michigan, Vermont and Florida showed that about 3% of these orders were filed in cases involving juveniles. About 10% were filed in cases involving people who threatened mass shootings, and most extreme risk protection orders were filed for suicide risk or mental health problems.
“We know that extreme security orders for mass shootings are not associated with subsequent mass shootings,” Zeoli said. “Those people don’t commit mass shootings.” However, he cautioned that it is still difficult to determine whether the extreme security orders prevented the shootings or if other factors were involved.
Law enforcement also faces challenges on the ground, said Detective Christopher Carita of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, who investigates threats of mass gun violence and other cases requiring the use of an extreme protection order. He said he has investigated about 30 cases involving juveniles and that filing a plea “can change people’s lives one to two years later.”
Mass shootings, in which four or more people are killed or injured, make up only a small portion of gun deaths and injuries in schools in the U.S. According to the K-12 School Shooting Database, more than 75% of deaths and 68% of injuries occur in incidents that are not classified as mass shootings and do not receive much attention.
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Contributed to this report.