AUGUSTA, Ga. () – A new bill in the Georgia State House aims to cut down on the number of school shootings.

“They’re dying in the schools, they’re dying in the streets, they’re dying in the homes. So, it’s– it’s very, very much needed,” Anti Gun Violence Advocate Dr. Rev. Larry Fryer said.

House Bill 268 would require police to report any time a student has made a threat to a school. It’s a response to September’s shooting at Apalachee High School.

“Being proactive. I think one of the things that we fail at, today is, a lot of times we wait until things happen before we respond. We got to get out of that, this environment that we’re living in today, we can’t afford to do that…” Burke County Sheriff’s Office’s Srgt. Mark Barnwell said.

The statewide database would be a registry of students who make threats to schools. It would ensure they’re evaluated for mental health problems and disciplined and noted as someone who might commit violence.

“They’re also going to be looking art behavioral and prevention policies to try to help with suicide, and also maybe try and find somebody who might be able to handle difficulties to prevent any kind of incidents from happening in school,” Sen. Harold Jones II said.

Law enforcement, local anti-gun violence advocates and state lawmakers feel the bill would help coordinate responses to make schools safer.

“Having a threat assessment team. A team that, when you’re identifying a child in crisis, would be willing to provide the whole services for that child from his mental health throughout…” Srgt. Barnwell said.

“Would be a good way to have our first responders be able to be in contact with each other to centralize the way in which they try to handle certain cases and certain events– especially tragedies,” Rev. Fryer said.

The bill passed the House this week and is now in the hands of the Senate. 

“It will be coming over to the senate, we look forward to kind of looking at it and seeing if we can make any changes– what we can do differently– if necessary. But I think my initial look at the bill, I think I like it…” Sen. Jones said.