A second Michigan school district has banned backpacks on school premises due to concerns about gun violence, after a third-grade student was found with a loaded gun.
Grand Rapids public schools said on Wednesday the weapon was discovered that morning at Stocking elementary school.
It was the fourth time this year the district has uncovered a student with a handgun – three of them in backpacks.
The district superintendent, Leadriane Roby, told reporters the ban was “a drastic step” but necessary.
“We have averted at least two tragedies in the last two weeks,” said Larry Johnson, executive director of public safety and school security.
“We don’t want to stand before you again.”
Flint community schools banned backpacks beginning 1 May, citing a nationwide “increase in threatening behavior and contraband, including weapons, being brought into schools at all levels”.
Flint students are allowed to carry belongings in small purses or clear plastic bags that are subject to being searched. Grand Rapids has not yet announced how its students will carry books and belongings.
There is an increased concern over guns in schools in Michigan after a mass shooting by a 15-year-old student at Oxford high school in 2021 left four students dead and seven injured.
Ethan Crumbley has pleaded guilty. He has said he used a gun purchased for him by his father and not secured at home. Investigators believe the gun was stashed in his backpack on the day of the shooting.
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Earlier this year, a six-year-old student shot his teacher in Virginia, using his mother’s 9mm handgun.
The Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, signed safe-storage legislation last month. It will require gun owners to keep unloaded firearms in a locked storage box or container when it is “reasonably known that a minor is or is likely to be present on the premises”.
The law will go into effect next year.
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