SB 401: Education; local boards of education shall be required to provide instruction in firearm safety in kindergarten through grade 12; provide

Georgia law currently has no requirement that public schools teach firearm safety. This bill would fill that gap by amending the Quality Basic Education Act (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-308) to require every local board of education to provide age-appropriate firearm safety instruction in kindergarten through grade 12, beginning with the 2028-2029 school year. Schools could fold this instruction into existing health and physical education classes. The State Board of Education would have to adopt content standards for the instruction by January 1, 2028. Local districts could design their own curriculum, possibly based on Department of Natural Resources firearm education courses, and that curriculum must cover safe storage, school safety around firearms, and what to do if a student finds a firearm. The instruction could not involve live ammunition or live firearms, and it must stay neutral on political viewpoints about guns.

• Requires every local school board in Georgia to provide firearm safety instruction in kindergarten through grade 12, starting in the 2028-2029 school year.
• Allows schools to fold the new firearm safety lessons into existing health and physical education courses instead of creating a separate class.
• Requires the State Board of Education to adopt statewide content standards for the instruction by January 1, 2028.
• Lets local school boards design their own firearm safety curriculum, optionally based on Department of Natural Resources firearm education courses, covering safe storage, school safety, and what to do if a firearm is found.
• Bans the use of live ammunition, live fire, or live firearms in the instruction and requires the lessons to stay neutral on political views about firearms.

Public school students in kindergarten through 12th grade and their teachers, local boards of education across Georgia that must design and deliver the curriculum, and the State Board of Education, which must set statewide content standards for the new instruction.

Starting in the 2028-2029 school year, Georgia students would receive mandatory lessons on firearm safety, including what to do if they find a gun, as part of their regular schooling. School districts would need to plan curriculum and possibly train staff, while the state sets ground rules to keep the material factual rather than political.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 20-2-308, previously a reserved (unused) code section, to require firearm safety instruction in kindergarten through grade 12 beginning in the 2028-2029 school year.
• Subsection (a) allows the instruction to be incorporated into existing health and physical education courses under O.C.G.A. § 20-2-142.
• Subsection (b) requires the State Board of Education to adopt content standards for the instruction no later than January 1, 2028.
• Subsection (c) lets local boards of education build their own curriculum, which may draw on Department of Natural Resources firearm education courses, and must cover safe storage, school safety, and avoiding injury from a found firearm.
• Subsection (d) prohibits the use of live ammunition, live fire, or live firearms in the instruction.
• Subsection (e) requires the instruction to be viewpoint neutral and bars it from promoting personal political beliefs about firearms.
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2026-01-16Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2026-01-15Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Ricky Williams (R, SD-025)Primary sponsor
• Billy Hickman (R, SD-004)
• Max Burns (R, SD-023)
• John Albers (R, SD-056)
• Mike Hodges (R, SD-003)
• Carden Summers (R, SD-013)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)
• Lee Anderson (R, SD-024)

• gun safety education
• school curriculum
• K-12 schools
• firearm safety
• Georgia public schools