RICHMOND, Va. -- Over 100 people rallied Saturday at the Virginia State Capitol, to urge Governor Glenn Youngkin (R - Virginia) to sign several pieces of gun safety legislation, currently making its way to his desk.
While several gun bills have drawn strong Republican opposition in the 2024 session, legislation aimed at punishing gun owners, when minor children gain access, has more bipartisan support.
On Monday, the Senate Courts of Justice Committee voted 12-0 in support of HB 36, legislation that makes it a felony for a parent or guardian to allow a minor any access to a firearm when that minor has been charged with a violent act or has been determined to be a threat to themselves or others.
Delegate Rodney Willett (D - Henrico) carried the legislation in the House of Delegates, while Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg (D - Henrico) carried the companion bill in the State Senate.
At the beginning of the General Assembly session, Meredith and Jonathan Bremer pleaded with legislators to change the law after their 13-year-old daughter, Lucia, was gunned down in March 2021 by a 14-year-old classmate.
His guardian escaped conviction.
“Lucia is dead, in part, because of an adult gun owner who made a choice to leave his firearm easily accessible to his teenager,” Meredith Bremer said before lawmakers.
“There would have been a conviction with HB 36,” said Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor.
Taylor said the legislation more clearly defined a parent or guardian’s role in their responsibility to secure a firearm from a minor.
She said the Bremer case and the shooting of a 1st-grade teacher in Newport News, which police said was at the hands of her own student, could have had different outcomes if such a law existed.
“It is very clear in this bill that they are put on notice and if there are any firearms in the home, it is their responsibility to undertake whatever means necessary to ensure that the child never possesses the firearm,” Taylor said.
Earlier in the session, The Citizens Defense League, a gun-rights advocacy organization, also agreed to support the legislation with its narrowed focus.
“The idea of holding someone accountable for intentionally or definitely negligently causing harm, we’re OK with that,” said league president Philip Van Cleave.
The bill now heads to a finance committee but is expected to pass the full Senate and eventually land on the governor’s desk.
“This is a good bill. This is a smart bill, and this will protect Virginians,” Taylor said. “More importantly, it protects our children.”
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