LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A second Michigan faculty district is banning backpacks on faculty premises on account of considerations about gun violence, this time as a result of a third-grade pupil was discovered with a loaded gun.
Grand Rapids Public Colleges mentioned in an announcement Wednesday that the weapon was found this morning at Stocking Elementary College and that it was the fourth time this yr that the district has uncovered a pupil with a handgun — three of them in backpacks.
District Superintendent Leadriane Roby mentioned at a information convention Wednesday that the ban was “a drastic step” that was essential.
“We now have averted at the least two tragedies within the final two weeks. We don’t wish to stand earlier than you once more,” mentioned Larry Johnson, government director of public security and faculty safety.
Flint Group Colleges banned backpacks starting Might 1, citing a nationwide “enhance in threatening conduct and contraband, together with weapons, being introduced into faculties in any respect ranges.”
Flint college students are allowed to hold belongings in small purses or clear plastic baggage which might be topic to being searched. Grand Rapids has not but introduced how its college students will carry their books and belongings.
There’s an elevated concern over weapons in faculties in Michigan following a mass capturing by a 15-year-old pupil at Oxford Excessive College in 2021 that left 4 college students useless and 7 others injured.
Ethan Crumbley has pleaded responsible to the shootings. He has mentioned he used a gun that had been bought for him by his father that had not been secured at house. Investigators imagine the gun was stashed in his backpack on the day of the capturing.
A 6-year-old pupil shot his instructor in Virginia this yr utilizing his mom’s 9mm handgun.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed secure storage laws final month that may require gun house owners to maintain unloaded firearms in a locked storage field or container when it’s “moderately identified {that a} minor is or is more likely to be current on the premises.” The legislation goes into impact subsequent yr.