1 day Ago
Once again, Gov. Glenn Youngkin has co-opted a bipartisan priority of our children’s and communities’ safety in order to advance his partisan political agenda. House Bill 1678/Senate Bill 1048, sponsored by Del.
Laura Jane Cohen and Sen. Stella Pekarsky, require local school divisions to notify parents of the importance of safely storing lethal means such as firearms and prescription medications. These bills were intended to address the No.
1 and No. 3 causes of death of children in the U.S.
: firearms and poisonings/overdoses, respectively. Instead of signing these straightforward bills, the governor’s recommendations torpedo them and further endanger some of the most vulnerable children in the commonwealth, LGBTQ+ youth. The board of Virginia Moms for Change (VMFC) stands firmly against Youngkin’s proposed amendments and urges the Virginia General Assembly to reject them.
Sadly, Youngkin’s action is nothing new. In the 2024 legislative session, these same patrons sponsored similar legislation, and the governor sent down unrelated amendments that we can only assume were intended to procedurally kill the bill, enabling him to veto the bill — which he ultimately did. This year the bill patrons incorporated feedback from opponents and removed provisions they found objectionable, leaving the underlying bill asking school boards to remind parents of their legal responsibility to safely store guns around children and of the importance of safely storing prescription medication.
The latter provision was added to address the addiction crisis — a major concern on both sides of the aisle. In our own work to prevent gun violence, VMFC has found that broadening language to encourage parents and caregivers to think of securely storing firearms within the larger responsibility of safeguarding household dangers can be a successful method to take politics out of the issue; thus, we were proud to work with the bills’ patrons on this more expansive lethal means parental notification bill. This common sense reform bill did in fact have bipartisan support in the 2025 legislative session.
At various points in the bill’s journey it was supported by: Dels. Mike Cherry, Carrie Coyner, Chad Green, Baxter Ennis, Bobby Orrock, David Owen, Anne Ferrell Tata and Kim Taylor. Additionally, pro-gun groups did not publicly oppose the bill.
HB1678/SB1048 aimed to decrease child access to guns and medications in part due to the fact that they are both major methods in suicide attempts. Ninety percent of suicide attempts with a gun are fatal compared to a 4% fatality rate for attempts not involving a gun; access to a firearm triples the risk of suicide death . Further, drug overdoses and poisonings are the most common method of suicide attempt.
Sign up for Viewpoints, an opinion newsletter Unfortunately, the very children that Youngkin targets in his amendments are most at-risk for suicide. According to the Trevor Project , LGBTQ+ youth attempt suicide at a rate four times greater than their peers. Twenty-nine percent of transgender youth have been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property, compared to 7% of cisgender youth, according to the FBI .
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 43% of transgender youth have been bullied on school property, compared to 18% of cisgender youth.
As parents, we understand the desire to know everything going on in your child’s life and to keep them safe. That is exactly what the original bill attempts to do, especially for children who may otherwise be at greater risk of self-harm or victimization. Instead of targeting vulnerable youth, Youngkin should listen to the overwhelming number of parents who want to protect their children from gun violence.
Please join Virginia Moms for Change in calling your Virginia senator and delegate today and urge that they reject this hate-filled amendment. Additionally, tell them you hope to see the bills’ true purpose restored and reintroduced in 2026. Sarah Kaufman of Richmond is president of Virginia Moms for Change, a bipartisan group of mothers and others fighting to end gun violence in our communities.
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