Governor Glenn Youngkin must decide the fate of gun rights in Virginia after Democrats narrowly passed three bills they claim will reduce gun violence in the commonwealth.
The bills, passed by the Virginia General Assembly between Wednesday and Friday, seek to regulate how gun owners in the commonwealth must store their firearms and where they can be carried.
SB 368 by State Senator Jennifer Boysko (D-Herndon) (pictured here) would require gun owners who have reason to believe a minor may have access to their firearms store them “in a locked container, compartment, or cabinet that is inaccessible” to children.
The legislation also applies to those who are “prohibited by law from possessing a firearm,” which means gun owners could be punished if a felon or other individual unable to own firearms were to visit their property.
It passed the Senate with 21 votes in favor and 19 votes against on February 1, and on Wednesday passed the House with 51 votes in favor and 49 votes against.
On Thursday the Virginia Senate passed HB 498, originally introduced by Delegate Laura Jane Cohen (D-District 15), which would require all school districts in the commonwealth to “develop and implement a policy” to annually inform parents of their “legal responsibility to safely store any firearm present in the household” as well as the “risks of improperly stored firearms statistics relating to firearm-related accidents, injuries, and death among youth, and other tips and strategies.”
The bill passed the Virginia House with 54 votes in favor and 45 against in January before passing in the Virginia Senate with 22 votes in favor and 17 against on Thursday.
A third bill, SB 99 by State Senator Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) (pictured here), would ban carrying a wide range rifles and shotguns “on any public street, road, alley, sidewalk, or public right-of-way or in any park or any other place of whatever nature that is open to the public” regardless of whether the weapons are loaded.
It narrowly advanced in the Virginia Senate with 21 votes in favor and 19 votes against on February 5, then passed in the House of Delegates in a similarly narrow 51-48 vote.
In a statement provided to 13 News Now, a spokesman with Youngkin’s office said he “will review any legislation that comes to his desk,” but also stated the governor’s position that Virginia’s “gun laws are already among the toughest in the nation,” and Youngkin “continues to pursue policies to hold criminals that commit crimes with guns accountable by strengthening penalties to effectively keep criminals off the streets and Virginians safe.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Gov Glenn Youngkin” by Gov Glenn Youngkin.
