ATLANTA — Leaders in several states have pushed for state-level special sessions and gun reform to address gun violence amid a string of mass shootings around the country.

According to Gun Violence Archive.org, which tracks mass shootings (with four or more reported injuries or deaths) around the country, in 2022 alone, nearly 250 incidents have been reported.

While Illinois, Texas and California top the nation in mass shootings in the last three years, in 2022 so far, seven incidents of mass shootings have been reported in Alabama, eight in Georgia, five in Mississippi and six in Tennessee.

On May 24, a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers were killed became one of the deadliest school shootings in the U.S.

“I want to urge the (Georgia) General Assembly to put all politics aside and to pass some legislation to increase gun safety — background checks before purchasing weapons and to ban assault weapons in the state of Georgia before it is too late,” said Democrat State Rep. Sandra Scott at a June 3 press conference. “As we continue to grieve for the innocent lives lost and the pain of the families and communities impacted across our nation, we must do something to control gun violence. Again, I’m asking the governor and the General Assembly to come together, put all political issues aside and let’s do some true real gun legislation.”

Several states have become more lax with gun laws through the years, especially this year as Georgia, Alabama and other states approved bills allowing gun owners to carry without a permit; Republican leaders, Scott said, have instead failed to advance some simpler proposed gun safety measures, including a bill that would require firearms to be stored in a safe or locking device in homes and a bill that would require reporting of a lost firearm.

Congress members are also working to come up with national gun reform, though it appears a majority of Republican leaders are less likely to agree to many of the Democrat-led proposals that generally aim to tighten gun laws and access.

“The (Second) Amendment is very clear, it says the right to keep and bear arms. It says the right to bear arms shall not be infringed,” said Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks in a recent Fox News interview. “If you’re talking about depriving people of their right to bear arms, well, first, it’s unconstitutional. So you’re going to have to address that with a constitutional amendment, and we’ll see how Congress and the states react to that kind of measure. Second, it’s not the proper way to go if you want to preserve our freedoms.”

Brooks referenced what he called an assassination attempt on him and other Congress members in June 2017 in Virginia where he and others were practicing for the annual congressional baseball game. A gunman, who was later arrested, opened fire onto the field injuring a handful of people, including members of Congress.

“What we have to do is stop the motivation that causes these criminals, these horrific individuals, to do what they do,” Brooks said, though not specifying any plans.

More than 50 faith leaders around the state of Tennessee sent a letter to Gov. Bill Lee June 1 requesting he call a special session to address gun violence.

“Gun violence is now the leading cause of deaths among children and adolescents,” the letter states. “Even in our own state, just this past weekend six teens were shot in Chattanooga. Enough is enough!”

They called on the legislature to repeal the permit-less gun carry law that went into effect July 2021; pass a universal background check law; ban semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity cartridges; and vote on a pending “red flag law.”

The red flag law (SB 1807), like others that have been proposed around the country, would allow a family member, household member, intimate partner or law enforcement officer who believe someone poses an imminent risk of harm to the person or others if allowed to purchase or possess a firearm to petition a court to prevent them from buying a gun and turning over other weapons.

If approved, the court would forward the order to the local law enforcement agency, which would transmit the order to the National Crime Information Center.

“Red flag laws won’t stop murders and will only hurt gun owners. End gun free zones and empower people to protect themselves,” Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said in a recent tweet.

Red flag laws, she added, could lead to taking away guns from veterans who may have PTSD from wars.

Referring to a May 25 shooting in Charleston, W.V., where an armed woman bystander took down a man who opened fire on nearly 40 people at a graduation party, stated: “No red flag law, assault weapons ban, or maybe even the police would have stopped him.”

An Ispos poll of 305 Democrats, 278 Republicans and 357 independents of various ages found that 70 percent support red flag laws, 74 percent support limiting the sale of automatic weapons; 69 percent agree with permits to carry a concealed weapon; and 72 percent support raising the legal age to buy a gun from 18 to 21. In school shootings especially, majority of the suspects have been under age 21.

“I’m here for the simplest of the engineering controls that are offered currently, common sense gun safety measures just like the vast majority of other Georgians … raising ages for weapons purchases, instituting waiting periods requiring background checks and training,” Ga. Rep. Rebecca Mitchell said. “I’m here also for the harder discussions, but we can’t have those discussions at empty tables with just the voices here who are proposing solutions that have worked in so many other countries. Even though it’s hard, even though you may lose your election because of it, because you might keep someone else’s son or daughter alive instead, and saving one child is absolutely worth losing every single election ever.”

Greene, Brooks and Georgia Representatives Andrew Clyde and Jody Hice and more than a dozen other Republican representatives have co-sponsored a proposal (Safe Students Act) to repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990.

That repeal would allow state, local governments and school boards to set their own firearms policies.

In a March 2018, Gallup poll of 500 teachers, 73 percent of them oppose proposals to arm school staff. In a September 2019 PDK Poll on Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, 67 percent of parents prefer not to have their child in a classroom where the teacher is armed, and 63 percent generally oppose allowing teachers and staff to carry guns.

A congressional House committee voted in favor on the proposed “Protecting Our Kids Act” June 2, which in part, would raise the age for purchasing a semiautomatic to 21 and make it illegal to import, sell, manufacture, transfer or possess a large-capacity magazine, with some exceptions.

“We are paying for this deadly gun culture with the lives of the American people. With the lives of those who we in this room are sworn to protect,” said Georgia Congressman Lucy McBath, whose son was killed due to gun violence. “… We have solutions a majority of the American people believe in. They are common sense compromises that will keep American children alive. Solutions to protect our kids, to keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them and to stop our neighbors from being slaughtered in our schools, in our churches and in our supermarkets.”

Federal proposals still await a vote in both the House and Senate, though politicians aren’t optimistic about approval in the Senate, which is evenly comprised of Democrats and Republicans.