LANSING, Mich. (NEWSnet/AP) — A second Michigan school district is banning backpacks on school premises due to concerns about gun violence, this time because a third-grade student was found with a loaded gun.

Grand Rapids Public Schools said in a statement Wednesday that the weapon was discovered this Wednesday morning at an elementary school and that it was the fourth time this year that the district has uncovered a student with a handgun — three of them in backpacks.

The district superintendent said the ban was “a drastic step” that was necessary.

Flint Community Schools banned backpacks beginning May 1, 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 their books and belongings.

There's an increased concern over guns in schools in Michigan following a mass shooting by a 15-year-old student at Oxford High School in 2021 that left four students dead and seven others injured.

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