Gun control activists in Georgia are pointing to the recent shooting at the Centers for Disease Control as evidence that the state needs to implement their preferred laws, claiming that things like a “red flag” statute could have prevented the attack.
DeKalb County police officer David Rose was the only person killed in the shooting, though the attacker fired hundreds of rounds at several CDC buildings. Local activists are already using the attack to push for various restrictions on lawful gun owners, crafting a false narrative that the state’s pro-Second Amendment statutes allowed the attack to take place.
To advocates, gun safety is pushing for restored violence prevention funding, gun storage laws and red flag laws in Georgia. These are laws that allow courts to temporarily remove firearms from individuals deemed a danger to themselves or others.
Months before the shooting, Cobb County Police records show suicide calls from White’s home. Records state that White did get possession of a gun out of a locker at his home, but later returned the weapon back to his father.
“The more laws we actually have or the legislative priorities that we have to reduce firearm injury, will reduce these kinds of incidents from happening from in our state,” said Dr. Kiesha Fraser Doh, a pediatric emergency medicine physician in Atlanta.
“There are so many ways to tackle this problem and unfortunately right now in our legislature, there’s just not the will. We really need people to join us to reach out from both sides of the aisle. This is not a partisan issue,” said Hallett.
It’s also not a gun control issue. According to authorities, the man responsible for the attack illegally obtained the gun he used, and no gun control law would have stopped him.
During a news conference about the shooting, GBI Director Chris Hosey said the guns used in the crime were stolen from his father’s safe.
“So all indications in our investigation was that they were secure and that he forced his way into the safe that contained the weapons,” Hosey said.
Cobb County Police records show it was not the first time he’d broken into his father’s safe and taken a weapon. Police responded to his home in September 2024 after Kenneth White called in a possible suicide attempt.
He told the officer that his son was suicidal and “trying to get the guns in the locker.”
How would more funding for community-based gun violence prevention programs, draconian gun storage laws, or an Extreme Risk Protection Order statute have prevented this attack? The gun used in the attack was locked up, and that didn’t stop the killer from breaking into a safe to steal it.
Police reports indicate that the attacker had spoken on multiple occasions about his desire to end his life. He needed mental health treatment, and it’s still an open question as to why he was never hospitalized or at least placed on a mental health hold and given a mental health assessment last year.
If Georgia had a “red flag” law, it might have been used against the attacker, but it wouldn’t have stopped him from stealing a gun. If there were one or more local FFLs who offered voluntary off-site storage options for gun owners who needed to temporarily remove their collection from their home, maybe Kenneth White would have taken advantage of that, but honestly, it sounds like his son was exhibiting a desire to hurt himself for well over a year, so even that non-legislative option might not have helped.
If Georgia had more inpatient beds available for those suffering from an acute mental health crisis, however, the attacker might have been able to get the help he needed. A 2022 report by the state’s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities documented an “immediate need for additional forensic state hospital beds at all facilities,” as well as a need for more facilities overall.
Georgia’s gun laws don’t need to change. The lack of access to mental health care, especially for those suffering an acute crisis, on the other hand, should have been addressed years ago.
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