By Sarah Hagen, VCU Capital News Service
RICHMOND, Va. — A gun violence prevention bill that recently cleared the House hopes to resolve what advocates call a public health crisis, but opponents say the bill is just another attack on Second Amendment rights.
Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, introduced House Bill 1736, which would create the Virginia Center for Firearm Violence Intervention and Prevention, and codify the center’s fund.
This is the third time Price has introduced this bill since 2022, but the first time it has gotten through the House. The bill passed the Democratic-majority chamber on mostly party lines, with three Republicans supporting it.
The center would be a state agency that addresses firearm violence through research, intervention, policy and programs, according to Price.
Price, a lifelong resident of Newport News, said she has seen too much gun violence over the decades, which has shaped the work she hopes to accomplish in the statehouse. Gun violence is a newer problem in a lot of counties, which they are not prepared to confront, she said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was prevented from gun violence research for 22 years by the Dickey Amendment, after a gun lobby group pressured Congress.
As a result, nonprofits had to fund their own research, and there was a lack of granular, statewide information available, according to Price. Her proposed center would fix this dearth of information.
“If you are a locality that doesn’t have that, you could go to this center and find out more information for the localities that look more like yours,” Price said in a 2024 committee meeting.
Lawmakers in 2022 did not pass a bill by former Richmond Democratic Sen. Jennifer McClellan that would have created the center, but through budget negotiations created the Virginia Firearm Violence Intervention and Prevention Fund that provides grants when needed — it did not conduct research or community outreach, according to Price.
The fund holds millions of dollars of gun violence prevention money, but could be more effective, Price said.
“In 2022 and 2023, we saw gun violence prevention measures going to fund things that were not necessarily gun violence prevention,” Price said, adding that some top localities for gun violence were not getting funded.
The proposed center would provide the data and coordination needed to direct money to the right place, Price said. The center would work to address gun violence through programs with the Departments of Health, Social Services, Education and others, according to Price.
“This is about research, this is about data, this is about resources so that we can address problems that are killing children, killing older people,” Price said.
Homicides and suicides made up 39% and 59% of gun-related deaths, respectively, from 2019 to 2023, according to the Virginia Department of Health. Gun violence has been the national leading cause of injury-related death for young people for the last eight years, overtaking vehicle crashes in 2017.
Over 100 mass shootings have occurred in the state since 2015, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, an independent data collection and research group. When four people or more are killed by a firearm, in one incident, the FBI defines it as a mass shooting.
Mike Fox leads the Virginia Moms Demand Action chapter, which advocates for public safety reforms to protect against gun violence.
“Gun violence is not just a law enforcement issue, it’s not just a public safety issue, but it’s a public health crisis that impacts all of us,” Fox said.
Fox has volunteered with Moms Demand Action since 2018. He has seen how effective proactive measures against gun violence, such as local intervention groups, can be for a community.
“If we’re able to save lives by having these sort of intervention efforts both at the state level and even at the local level, then it’ll absolutely make a difference,” Fox said.
This approach was introduced in Maryland in 2022, through the Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Gun Violence Solutions. It has helped pass “lifesaving gun policies” and written over 20 studies, according to its website.
Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, included HB 1736 on the organization’s list of strongly opposed bills. The bill is a ploy to take away guns and will not get to the “root of violence,” he said.
Van Cleave is suspicious of the label “gun violence,” which ignores the numerous ways that violent crimes take place, and stated it is a term created by the “gun control lobby” — for example, no one uses the term “tire iron violence.”
“It’s just another way to find something to attack our right to keep and bear arms,” Van Cleave said. “It’s not really about solving the issue of violence.”
The VCDL will ask Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin to veto the bill if it passes, Van Cleave said. Youngkin vetoed many gun control bills in the last legislative session.
HB 1736 is currently in the Senate Courts of Justice committee, as of Feb. 7. Lawmakers have until Feb. 22 to finish working on legislation.