RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) — A pair of bills that would require school divisions to push out yearly gun safety reminders to parents has passed both chambers of the General Assembly.
If the proposals become law, beginning this fall, public school boards in the Commonwealth would have to craft and approve a policy that notifies the parents of each student of their responsibilities if they happen to own a firearm. There’s no word on whether Gov. Glenn Youngkin will sign the legislation into law.
Those responsibilities include how to safely store guns in the home or a car, the importance of modeling responsible behavior around guns for children and the consequences, both criminally and physically, if precautions aren’t taken.
Del. Laura Jane Cohen, (D-Fairfax) a freshman legislator who proposed the bill in the House, said the rise of shootings involving young people motivated her.
Specifically, cases in which a gun is accidentally fired.
“Secure firearm storage reduces gun violence dramatically, with households that lock up firearms and ammunition seeing 85% fewer unintentional injuries,” Cohen said.
In Hampton Roads, the case in which a six-year-old was able to get ahold of his mother’s gun and shoot his teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News is still fresh on the community’s mind.
While the bills change no gun laws and only serve to remind parents of laws on the books, the votes to approve fell mostly among party lines.
Only two Republicans in the Senate and three in the House voted with all Democrats in favor of the bill.
Two of those Republicans represent parts of Hampton Roads: State Sen. Danny Diggs, (R-York) who served as the York County and Poquoson sheriff for 23 years, and Del. Ann Farrell Tata (R-Virginia Beach.)
Other Hampton Roads Republicans didn’t respond to comments on why they voted against the bill.
However the Virginia Citizens Defense League spoke out against the bill, saying they can support some of it, but that it goes too far in making guns seem negative.
Language in the bill requires schools to detail the role of guns in suicides, including youth suicides and current statistics published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on youth firearm fatality rates.
“This is how we start,” Cohen said. “We have an obligation for our children in our homes to make sure our weapons, loaded, do not wind up in places where they ought not to be and don’t wind up with children who are not trained and who unfortunately make devastating choices when playing with loaded firearms.”
