Georgia to Prioritize Dystopian School Hardening with Drone Technology Instead of Passing Gun Safety Laws; Everytown, Students Demand Action Respond

ATLANTA - Today, the Georgia Department of Education confirmed five public schools will participate in a $500,000 state-funded pilot program to deploy human-piloted drones inside schools to confront active shooters. Following repeatedly ignored calls for meaningful and evidence-informed action on gun safety, especially in the wake of the mass shooting at Apalachee High School, this move comes amidst intense criticism from gun safety advocates.

"Instead of passing gun safety laws that could actually prevent a school shooting from happening, our leaders are treating our lives like an experimental video game," said Brooklyn Baldwin, a volunteer with the Jenkins High School chapter of Students Demand Action. "After the mass shooting at Apalachee High School, we begged our lawmakers to do something to protect us. We didn't mean this. By filling our schools with drones and turning our hallways into high-tech warzones, our lawmakers are sending a terrifying message: that when it comes to gun violence, survival is the best we can hope for, and prevention isn't even on the table."

"Georgia's drone pilot program is nothing more than a band-aid solution - a reactionary measure to a problem we refuse to fix at its root. Deploying drones into our high schools is an admission of our collective failure to protect kids, and normalizes terror in the very spaces that should foster learning and growth," said Sonali Rajan, senior director of research at Everytown for Gun Safety. "There is no evidence that drones would prevent a school shooting from happening, nor reduce the lethality of one should one occur. We must stop trying to out-escalate school violence with unproven school hardening measures, and instead focus on the proactive, human-centered prevention efforts that address the root causes of gun violence before a weapon ever reaches school doors."

Georgia has some of the weakest gun safety laws in the nation, the result of a legislature that has systematically dismantled public safety protections for years. Despite an average of 2,063 people dying by guns every year in the state, lawmakers have repeatedly blocked commonsense, lifesaving gun safety laws, including failing to pass a secure storage law requiring gun owners to lock up weapons in the presence of minors.

The school safety and security industry has grown rapidly over the past decade, fueled by understandable concerns about school shootings and broader community violence. Some estimates put the value of the school hardening industry at over $4 billion annually and growing. Despite its growth, there is very little evidence that most existing school hardening measures reduce gun violence. Research shows that while certain measures like secure entry systems and communication protocols can improve day-to-day safety, others - such as heavy policing or surveillance - may have unintended negative mental health impacts, particularly on students of color and students with disabilities.

A strong and growing body of research has shown the value of proactive school safety measures, such as behavioral threat assessment programs, access to mental health professionals and social support, and non-punitive disciplinary processes, coupled with common-sense gun laws and practices, like secure storage and Extreme Risk laws, can help to ensure that guns are not easily accessible in order to reduce a school's risk of experiencing gun violence and mass shootings.

If Georgia lawmakers truly want to take meaningful action to combat gun violence on school grounds, they must prioritize passing proven, lifesaving solutions. Students deserve safe communities and secure classrooms, not experimental technology that turns hallways into battlezones.