Georgia may not have a specific law, but there are ways to leverage laws on the books to still hold parents accountable.
BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — Editor’s note: The video above is from previous reporting before the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced charges against Colin Gray.
The father of the 14-year-old accused of shooting and killing four peopleat a Georgia high school has been arrested.
Colin Gray, 54, is now facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. His son, Colt Gray, was arrested Wednesday in connection with the Apalachee High School shooting.
This bodes the question: what does parent accountability look like in the wake of such a tragedy?
In the past decade, there have been at least seven mass shootings at K-12 schools. Half of those involved students who couldn’t legally purchase a gun on their own, raising questions about the parents’ role in access.
According to KFF, a non-profit that tracks health-related issues, 26 states have some legal language holding parents accountable if their child gets access to a gun and uses it to harm someone else. However, most of those laws didn’t exist until after a tragic event like a school shooting.
Georgia does not have a specific child access firearms prevention law.
Former Fulton County prosecutor Tanya Miller said the state still has ways to hold parents accountable — from negligent homicide or involuntary manslaughter — if the evidence shows some kind of negligence played a role.
“It’s not simple negligence. It’s not, ‘I had a safe. I forgot to lock it.’ It’s not that,” Miller explained. “I think the first thing that they’re going to want to understand is how the child was able to access this firearm. What manner did the parent store the firearm? And then, the second thing is going to be the child himself. What did dad know about his son? Did his son have any mental or emotional issues that would have made him particularly sensitive or put dad on notice that his son might behave in this way?”
RELATED: Father of 14-year-old accused gunman arrested in connection to Apalachee High School shooting: GBI
Jackson County Sheriff’s Office did question Colt Gray and his father more than a year ago after being made aware of online threats to commit a school shooting. The case was closed, though, when Colt denied any knowledge or involvement, and the tip couldn’t be substantiated.
During that interview, though, law enforcement did learn his father had guns in the house, although he told investigators his son did not have “unfettered access” to them.
The father of a school shooter in Washington, Raymond Fryberg, did face charges around a decade ago after his son used a weapon stored at their house to kill four students and then himself in 2014. But his charges were not directed at the shooting itself, but the fact he violated a protective order that banned him from owning a weapon.
It wasn’t until 2021 that other parents faced direct charges of involuntary manslaughter. Jennifer and James Crumbley are now in prison after their son shot and killed four classmates in Michigan.
Miller said it shows as a cultural shift.
“I think that, in the wake of so many mass shootings that are happening all across our country, local law enforcement professionals are trying to figure out ways that they can do more to discourage this kind of behavior,” said Miller.
Miller also serves as a state lawmaker. While a prosecutor can bring charges to hold parents accountable, she believes there’s still value in a law that makes it clear.
“One of the things that you want to accomplish when you introduce legislation is to raise public awareness about an issue. You want parents to know very clearly that they have obligations as it relates to firearm storage when they know that they have children present in the house. So, to the extent that there were, for example, a law introduced that put parents clearly on notice that they could be charged criminally if they failed to secure their firearm and if their child commits a crime with that firearm might very well, deter, that kind of behavior,” Miller said.
