At City Hall in Richmond on Friday, a man at a bus stop was shot and killed just steps away from the Virginia State Capitol where Governor Glenn Youngkin was reviewing bills passed by the General Assembly to address gun violence.
Despite gun violence costing the state an estimated $14.2 billion each year, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed a bill on Friday aimed to protect victims of domestic abusers and failed to sign a bill requiring school boards to provide education to parents and caregivers about secure firearm storage.
“Today’s decisions from Governor Youngkin are disappointing, and a disregard of the will of the voters,” said Mike Fox, a volunteer with the Virginia chapter of Moms Demand Action.
Polling done last year demonstrated that gun violence prevention is overwhelmingly popular in the Commonwealth. In 2023, Virginia voters flipped the House of Delegates back to a gun sense majority. Nine Moms Demand Action volunteers were elected last cycle and now make up nearly 20 percent of the Virginia House Democratic caucus.
The Virginia chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action are both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots network.
“We demonstrated in the 2023 elections when we helped flip the House of Delegates to a gun sense majority that Governor Youngkin’s guns everywhere agenda isn’t welcome in the Commonwealth and that voters want leaders who will make stronger gun safety laws a reality,” said Fox. “Thanks to the leadership of our legislators, there are still many lifesaving gun violence prevention bills on the way to Governor Youngkin’s desk. He’ll have another opportunity to do the right thing and support our efforts to make our communities safer by signing those bills into law.”
This year, Virginia legislators have advanced bills to prohibit ghost guns and assault weapons, require the secure storage of firearms in homes with children or prohibited persons, support and expand community violence prevention organizations, hold bad actors in the gun industry accountable when their misconduct harms Virginians and keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, among others.
The two bills that Youngkin did not support on Friday were:
- HB 46/SB 47: Youngkin vetoed; would have required convicted domestic abusers to surrender their firearms once they become legally prohibited from possessing them and strengthened existing laws that disarm domestic abusers who are subject to restraining orders.
- HB 498: Youngkin failed to sign this bill to require school boards to educate parents and caregivers about the importance of secure firearm storage.
“It’s frustrating that the governor would choose not to sign such basic, common-sense gun safety laws,” said Grace Varughese, a volunteer with Hayfield Secondary School Students Demand Action chapter. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t be informing people that secure firearm storage saves lives or keeping individuals with violent histories from accessing a gun. It’s just common sense.”
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Crystal Graham
