Virginia’s legislative season is over, and Gov. Glenn Youngkin has sifted through dozens of bills and issued a record number of vetoes. While the governor vetoed most bills increasing gun safety, he also signed two gun safety measures into law that have flown under the radar: House Bill 2055 and House Bill 2679.
I, along with my chief co-patrons Dels. Michael Feggans and Laura Jane Cohen, championed these bills with one goal in mind: protecting Virginia’s children from needless gun violence. And that’s exactly what these bills do. HB2055 and HB2679 require schools to inform parents of individual students identified as being at risk of suicide or harm to others about existing firearm safe storage obligations and suicide and violence prevention methods. In doing so, these bills target a documented problem that has unfolded throughout Virginia: child suicide and violence.
If you are interested in reading my op-ed, please click https://www.pilotonline.com/2025/05/15/column-virginias-children-are-safer-but-we-still-have-work-to-do/