As many of you know, there was a gun rally on Monday, Jan. 20. However, some may not be aware of the actual bills that they were protesting. The Senate bills 69, 35 and 240 are the bills that the rally was centered around. Based on the interviews and signs I saw from the rally and online, many of the protestors are concerned that these bills would take away their guns, per usual. Below I will be discussing the bills and giving my personal opinion on them.
- Senate Bill 69
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According to the Legislative Information System, this bill would create limitations on the number of handguns that someone could purchase, such as only buying one handgun within a 30 day period unless that person is a licensed firearms dealer. Personally, I see nothing wrong with this bill. What is the need for buying more than one gun a month when you are not a dealer? One gun should be enough for one person for more than a 30 day period, in my personal opinion.
- Senate Bill 35
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Using the same website, I found that this bill would allow any locality to prohibit firearms in public spaces such as government buildings, parks and other public spaces. As someone who grew up after Columbine happened, I can tell you that this bill is probably a good thing. My whole generation grew up doing active shooter drills, which in all honesty is a little traumatizing for young children. It caused me to panic in public spaces as I was terrified an active shooter incident would happen. It is also no surprise to me that this bill was proposed being that the Virginia Beach mass shooting happened in 2019 at a municipal building.
- Senate Bill 240
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This last bill would allow for guns to be taken away from someone who poses a substantial risk to themself or any other person. I honestly see no negatives from this bill. Again, going back to my generation growing up with active shooter drills and multiple school shootings happening a year, I feel like this will help with incidents happening in schools because in Virginia anyone who is 18 and older can purchase a shotgun legally, which a good number of 18-year-olds are still in high school. This may also take guns from parents whose children may be deemed at risk to commit homicide or suicide. I have just been discussing the impact for high school children and under, this may also help with a decline in suicides and homicides in general.
After researching and discussing all of these bills, I see no negatives to any of them. I feel like a large portion of the “Guns Save Lives” people and die-hard second amendment supporters are being way too overdramatic. However, I do not expect less from them as many of them proposed arming teachers rather than trying to pass smart gun control laws. And all I have to say is if you do not want your firearms taken away from you, be a responsible gun owner.