The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta town halls address students', parents' gun concerns
Lawmakers say changes to the laws will take time.
Two townhall meetings in metro Atlanta on Saturday were among those around the country organized by the growing student-led March for Our Lives movement birthed after the Parkland school shooting in February. The gathering at Trinity
Baptist Church in Conyers was titled “Stop School Shootings Now” and drew a small group of concerned parents who asked questions of two Democrats, U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson and state Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson. All wanted to know what could be done not only to keep assault weapons out of schools but out of the hands of the mentally ill and people with histories of violence.
Henson said he felt that the student-led movement has already had a huge impact on the public conversation around guns. But Henson said change would be incremental.
“You’ve got to change public opinion,” Henson said. “It’s very hard in Georgia to pass any state laws.”
Johnson also praised the student movement but said
the amount of money flflowing through politics would ultimately have bearing on whether comprehensive gun control measures would be passed on state and national levels.
“You have to change campaign fifinance laws, because you’ll never be able to compete with corporate contributions,” Johnson said. “We’re in a conundrum.”
Annabette Vellines, 17, of Druid Hills High School, organized the Conyers event and said she was not disappointed that shewas the only student to attend the forum. Her school, like many others, is on spring break.
“I walk into school and I never know if I’m gonna come back out or if my friends are gonna come back out,” Vellines said. “If somebody comes to school with an assault riflfle there’s nothing you can do because you can’t outrun a bullet. You just have to hope you don’t die.”
U.S. Rep. Karen Handel is among many Republican lawmakers who have put a focus on school security in the wake of the gun debate.
“We are focused in Congress on school safety. What we know is that we need to make sure all the schools around the country are hardened,” Handel said in recent comments to the AJC. Handel said she’s already been briefed by officials in Fulton and DeKalb counties about their efforts to strengthen school security. “I have been thoroughly impressed and gained a great deal of confifidence in the work and the effort proactively that these school districts have put in to make sure that we have the highest levels of security that we need to keep our schools safe.”
Another town hall was held Saturday evening in Atlanta at the Rialto Center for the Arts. Several politicians and candidates — including two of Handel’s Democratic opponents in the 6th Congressional District race — agreed to take part in the Atlanta forum.
“It is really easy to lose momentum. The marches are really exciting. Then the next week, month, it’s easy for people to not show up,” student Sean King told Channel 2 Action News’ Lauren Pozen at the Rialto event hosted by Concerned Students of Georgia.
Two panels of elected officials and political candidates took questions from students.
“They are driving the bus andwe are guiding and navigating we are their GPS, but they are the drivers,” state Rep. Kim Schofield said.
U.. S. Rep. John Lewis pledged his support to tighten gun laws.
“It doesn’t make sense for hundreds and thousands of people, especially young people, children, students, to live in fear of gun violence. We have to stop the madness,” Lewis told the audience.
Lastmonth, March for Our Lives gatherings were held in about 800 cities across the nation. The March for Our Lives in Atlanta attracted an estimated 30,000. At the rallies, speakers — many of them students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where the deadly mass shooting claimed 17 lives — demanded tougher gun laws.