As parents in the Peach State process the shock of a mass shooting at Apalachee High School that took the lives of two teachers and two students, momentum is building to allow educators to carry weapons.
That’s a big takeaway from a Cygnal poll of 518 Georgia parents conducted between Sept. 7 and 9, just days after 14-year-old Colt Gray’s fateful rampage.
All told, 52% of parents agree that local school boards should allow teachers to carry firearms on campus.
The passion on this issue is evident. With 34% saying they strongly agree with classroom presenters packing pistols and other weapons, that’s more than the 31% who disagree with the premise teachers should have guns in the classroom.
It’s legal statewide for teachers to carry guns with school-board sanction, but only three districts of the 180 in the state allow them to do so.
The majority holds when parents are asked if they want their children’s teachers carrying in their classrooms also, though barely: 50.1% say they’re in favor of that, and 34.8% are opposed.
It’s not clear why a small subset of parents want teachers with guns in the abstract but not when their own child is involved.
The polling also finds parents in favor of shooters’ own parents and guardians being legally liable for their progeny’s depravity, with 83% of respondents agreeing a parent should be held responsible if “a child makes a threat to harm students, teachers, or school staff with a firearm and then gains access to a firearm, either provided by a parent or due to easy access in the home, and goes on to commit a crime.”
Respondents were also asked to respond to Colt Gray’s father being charged “with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and child cruelty.”
And most agree with the sanction: 59% said those charges are “about right,” while 14% said they were too lenient. Only 16% said they were too harsh.
Indications are that the parent is largely to blame here.
Colt Gray’s father, Colin, called his son a “sissy” and bought him the AR-15 to “toughen him up,” as The Post previously reported.
Respondents also gave majority support to a series of potential policy solutions, including increasing access to mental health help for troubled students, severe consequences for would-be school shooters and training “fully armed” school resource officers.