Georgia could become the first state with weapons detection in all public schools

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia could become the first state to require every student to be checked for weapons when arriving at a public school each day.

A bill is nearing passage that would require weapons detection systems in a further reaction to a 2024 school shooting that killed four.

“That rifle would have never reached our hallways,” said Daria Lezczynska, a junior at Apalachee High School in Winder, where the shooting took place. “Lives would have been saved. Families would not be grieving, Students like me would not be carrying this trauma.”

Some schools have long used metal detectors or required students to carry clear backpacks to cut down on weapons. But a new generation of technology marries computer analysis with cameras or the same electromagnetic fields as metal detectors to detect knives and guns. The systems have spread rapidly through schools, arenas, stadiums and hospitals.

“It’s very commonplace for me to walk through a weapons detection system when I enter into a courthouse,” said Chuck Efstration, the bill’s sponsor and Republican house majority leader who represents the Apalachee campus. “Georgia’s students and educators deserve similar security with weapons detection systems inside of every Georgia public school.”

There’s little rigorous research nationwide proving that weapons detectors prevent school shootings. In Georgia, there are questions about who will pay what can be $10,000 or more per system. School employees must staff checkpoints and search bags. And even supporters of the systems say searchers can become dulled by a multitude of false alarms and miss the few actual weapons. Some question whether weapons detectors are necessary in elementary schools, as Efstration’s bill mandates. And those who find Georgia’s gun laws too permissive say installing weapons detectors everywhere is a form of surrender, accepting that society will be awash in guns and violence.

A Senate committee on Monday passed an amended version of Efstration’s bill, meaning it needs final votes in the Senate and House in the closing days of Georgia’s 2026 legislative session before reaching Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature or veto.

Few schools traditionally required weapons checks

It’s unclear how many schools nationwide use weapons detectors. A U.S. Department of Education survey found that in the 2021-2022 school year, 6.2% of all schools and 14.2% of high schools nationwide required random metal detector checks. Only 2.4% of all schools and 6.2% of high schools required daily metal detector checks. More schools required clear bookbags or banned bookbags than required daily metal detector checks. Checks were more likely to be required when a school was in a city, when the majority of students were nonwhite, and when large majorities of students were poor.

Atlanta’s school district spent more than $4 million to roll out new systems in 2021 in middle and high schools, replacing old-style metal detectors. District Police Chief Ronald Applin said officials wanted something that students could move through more quickly, saying traditional detectors were “too cumbersome.”

Applin said guns found at Atlanta schools fell from 32 the year before the new system to four so far this year.

The 1,700 students at Midtown High School typically hold their laptops in the air as they pass through detection gates, with a computer screen telling employees whether a bag needs a secondary search.

“It’s not real adversarial at the metal detector,” said School Resource Officer Meredith Littles. “A lot of people get worried about the dynamics of what that looks like. But it’s very non-intrusive.”

False alarms can dull vigilance

One key question is how sensitive to make the system, said Nikita Ermolaev, a research engineer at IPVM, which tests and researches security technology. Too sensitive, and alarms go off for everything. Not sensitive enough, and weapons slip through. And trying to maintain vigilance is a challenge.

“You have 100 alarms and the first 99 of them are false alarms on laptops or binders, right? You’re naturally going to assume that the 100th alarm is also going to be on something benign,” Ermolaev said. “And that’s how sometimes weapons such as guns or knives can go through the system.”

Then there’s the cost. Georgia gives each public school campus $50,000 a year for school safety, but many districts are already using that money to pay on-campus officers. House budget writers have proposed borrowing an additional $50 million for grants to districts.

“While we absolutely think weapons detection is imperative, it can only be made possible with appropriate funding,” said Gretchen Walton, an assistant superintendent in Cobb County, which with 103,000 students is Georgia’s second-largest school system.

Others, including some Democrats, see the focus on weapons detection as misplaced. They say Georgia should be looking to limit children’s access to guns.

“We have allowed guns and weapons of war to become more available than a pack of gum in this state, then act confused when people keep dying,” said Democratic state Rep. Bryce Berry, a public school teacher who voted against the bill in the House. “Let’s stop hiding behind procedure and politics and pretending that the threat our children face is some vague, mysterious force.”