By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both Democrats, have introduced a new federal gun control bill which would limit handgun purchases, mandate reporting lost or stolen firearms within 48 hours, and punish people who leave unsecured guns near minors.
According to WVEC News, the introduction came on the 17th anniversary of the Virginia Tech mass shooting, which occurred April 16, 2009. It also comes three days before another anniversary, the April 19, 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord, which ignited the Revolutionary War.
The Kaine-Warner bill is known as the Virginia Plan to Reduce Gun Violence Act of 2024.
In a press release posted on Kaine’s website, these are the highlights of the legislation:
- One-Handgun-a-Month: Limits purchases of handguns to one per month to curtail the stockpiling and trafficking of firearms, promoting domestic and international security.
- Reporting of Lost or Stolen Firearms: Requires gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms to the appropriate state or local law enforcement agency within 48 hours. State and local law enforcement agencies would be directed to report data collected to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center.
- Preventing Firearm Access to Minors: Promotes responsible gun ownership and safe storage practices by holding individuals liable for leaving a loaded, unsecured gun in the presence of a minor. This will prevent the most common cause of accidental shooting deaths among children.
- Protection Order Prohibitions: Strengthens safeguards for victims of domestic violence by closing the “boyfriend loophole,” which currently allows abusive non-spousal partners to possess firearms, and expands firearm laws to prohibit persons convicted of stalking or subject to a domestic violence restraining order from possessing firearms.
- Extreme Risk Protection Orders: Establishes a federal extreme risk protection order process to temporarily remove firearms from individuals who pose a high risk of harming themselves or others and incentivizes states to implement their own extreme risk protection laws and court protocols.
- Lucia’s Law: Establishes criminal liability for a caregiver who gives a child in their care access to a firearm when they are aware that child poses a risk of violence to themselves or others.
WVEC noted that all but one of these provisions is already in place in Virginia, but the two Democrats want to spread this nationwide. In the Kaine news release, he acknowledges that he and Warner “have long-supported a comprehensive approach to curbing gun violence.”
“In June 2022,” the statement reads, “Warner and Kaine helped pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, legislation that contains many provisions of the Virginia Plan, including improving background checks, strengthening safeguards for victims of domestic violence, and incentivizing states to implement their own Extreme Risk Protection Orders to remove firearms from individuals who pose a high risk of harming themselves or others. The Department of Justice issued a rule last week—which the senators applauded—to codify provisions outlined in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to close the gun show loophole, which permitted the sale of firearms online and at gun shows without background checks.”
The two Democrats contend that Virginia’s “commonsense framework” on gun control should be the national model.
