Huntsville Rep. voices support for bill holding parents responsible for kids bringing guns to school
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) – Representative James Lomax is voicing his support for a House bill that will add criminal penalties to parents of students who bring guns to school.
The press release follows an incident at Challenger Elementary School on Thursday, Feb. 6, where a gun went off in a student's backpack.
PRIOR REPORTING: Firearm goes off in second grader's backpack at Challenger
According to Huntsville City Schools, the incident happened as students were in the hall getting ready to leave school for the day. HCS said the incident happened at around 2:45 p.m. HCS said that the bullet struck another student's bookbag, damaging the student's laptop. Besides the student experiencing some ringing in their ear, no other injuries were reported.
Lomax said parents should be responsible for their children's use of firearms, including making sure they are secured so that children cannot get into them without adult supervision.
My understanding is that Huntsville City Schools has responded to this incident by accelerating atimeline to install Evolv Weapon Detection Systems at the school and that additional securitypersonnel will be on site. I'd like to commend the Huntsville City Council on approvingadditional security measures within Huntsville City Schools this past December and lookforward to those measures going into full effect.
Rep. James Lomax
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He added that a $10,000 grant has been secured to install 'security devices' at CES.
The school said on Friday there will be additional security measures in place such as the following:
Increased Security Presence: Extra security personnel will be on-site.
Enhanced Screening: All students will pass through an Evolv weapon detection system upon entering the building.
Emotional Support: Counselors will be available to provide support to any student who may need it.
'As the father of two young daughters, I want to iterate that schools should be a place wherestudents feel secure enough to learn. We must all do the work today to provide for a brightertomorrow,' concluded Lomax.
Lomax represents District 20, which covers Southeast Huntsville, Jones Valley, Hampton Cove and Monte Sano Mountain.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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