Marshall County School shooting victims remembered as SB 1 signed into law

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - More than a year after a school shooting in Marshall County, Kentucky killed two students, lawmakers have responded.

Governor Matt Bevin signed Senate Bill 1 into law ceremoniously Wednesday.

The families of the Marshall County School shooting came to watch the emotional event.

With a pen in hand, Bevin signed the legislation lawmakers called General Assembly Bill 1 because of the bipartisan support it received in a yearlong work group and once reaching the House and Senate for a vote.

“There’s nothing we can do in Senate Bill 1, House Bill 1, nothing the governor’s going to sign or anything else that can ensure safety for all of us, but I’m confident that we took the steps necessary here,” Rep John Bam Carney, (R) Majority Floor Leader, said.

Now law, leaders said SB 1 is a start. It encourages more SRO's in schools and increases the amount of mental health professionals required to help students.

"We have not historically, as a state or as a society, done enough to draw attention to this, and this bill will do that," Bevin said.

Funding for the law would still have to be figured out next session. Some have criticized it for not including gun control measures.

But those claps heard loudest in support Wednesday were those of the parents of the Marshall County School shooting victims - Bailey Holt and Preston Cope.

"That's all we asked, is to do something," Brian Cope, Preston's father, said. "That's what you did."

Preston’s father Brian held back tears as he stroked his son’s baseball glove and remembered the last time he kissed him goodbye.

"I kissed him on the head that morning," Cope said. "I always kiss him on the head every morning, tell him I love him, have a good day at school, see him in the afternoon. It was a hard, hard day. We re-live it every single day."

It was a horror Preston’s parents said they don’t want anyone to ever have to live through.

Lawmakers said they’re already working on finding dedicated revenue streams to fund the legislation.

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