U.S. Tim Kaine (center) leads a roundtable on gun violence with Sarah Harper (right), president of the Richmond chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. (Photo by Adam DuBrueler)
Sarah Harper wants to know if legislators are finally ready to take action on gun reform. The president of Richmond’s chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a national advocacy organization, sat down Monday with U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine and about 40 other constituents to discuss gun violence in Virginia.
"I just think we have too much access to guns,” Harper says. “I really got involved when my daughter was at Virginia Tech during the shooting. That really impacted our family, so that was really the catalyst to get me more involved in gun violence prevention."
The roundtable at downtown Richmond's SunTrust Center took place less than two weeks after 17 people were fatally shot at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where classes resume Wednesday. Kaine reached out to Moms Demand Action to hear what reforms Virginia constituents would like to see become a reality.
“This is an issue that’s very personal to me,” Kaine, a Democrat who has served as Virginia governor and Richmond mayor, told the group. “We learned something, though. Both as a City Council trying to deal with gun violence in Richmond and in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shooting — which is, you can take action that can make your community safer.”
Attending constituents asked questions about both local and national policy reform. Mental health professionals asked for increased funding for mental health programs in the state and a potential firearm tax increase to raise money necessary for prevention.
A gun violence prevention advocate argued for safe storage legislation, citing statistics of high numbers of gun accidents in the state. However, such a measure failed in Virginia’s current legislative session.
Robyn Sordelett (left) and Lynn Goff join the discussion at Monday's roundtable. (Photo by Adam DuBrueler)
Some constituents voiced concerns about firearm regulation, noting that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has run without a director for years.
“You’re right — the ATF has been very hobbled. That’s a trick that is played if you can’t have the votes to repeal a law, but you can sort of decapitate the head and have it vacant, then you can weaken its effectiveness,” Kaine says.
At the Virginia General Assembly, legislators introduced more than 80 pieces of gun-reform legislation this session, but most bills died in the Republican-controlled chambers.
Failed measures included legislation that would have allowed localities to ban firearms at public events, would have required parental permission for firearms in the home and would have banned the use of bump stocks that allow firearms to fire faster.
“Bump stocks are fun,” says Philip Van Cleave, president of Virginia Citizens Defense League, an organization that lobbies the General Assembly for gun rights. “One time, one person did something. So, really, is this a horrific danger? Are people getting shot every day with bump stocks? It’s not happening. But we have to run and ban them because it makes us feel better, but it won’t make us any safer.”
Van Cleave says the best way to make schools safer against gun violence is to allow those with permits to carry weapons on school grounds.
“We feel that that’s the best way because that’s a powerful deterrent to somebody even trying to attack a school,” Cleave says. “And it works. That’s what we could do for starters and it would cost the school nothing. We’re not suggesting you just hand guns to teachers.”
The idea of arming certain teachers — articulated by President Trump — has drawn criticism from some educators, including Jason Kamras, superintendent of Richmond Public Schools, who tweeted last week that, “arming teachers is an awful idea. The only answer: gun control.”
A few pieces of gun reform are still under consideration in the General Assembly, such as SB 669, which would require a minor 14 years or older involuntarily committed to mental health treatment to be subject to the same firearm restrictions as mentally ill adults.
However, because most major gun-control measures have been tabled indefinitely, Moms Demand Action has turned its attention to upcoming elections.
“We will be doing phone banking and going to the General Assembly and meeting with legislators,” Harper says. “The push will be to try to get voted in legislators that understand this is an issue and people want action.”
After the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 that killed 32, Kaine, as governor, proposed a $42 million investment in mental health programs in the state and signed an executive order to block gun sales to those committed to mental health treatment centers.
When Kaine visited the memorial for the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida that killed 49 people, it brought back emotions that had been suppressed since the Virginia Tech massacre, he says. But he believes there has been a shift in the discussion, which has the potential to make an impact.
Pointing to the efforts by student survivors to draw attention to the issue, Kaine says, “I think the action of these youngsters poses the question: Who’s more important? Are your children more important or are your political contributions more important?
“Isn’t this about us?” he said. “That’s what they’re asking us.”
