VIRGINIA ( DC News Now ) — A bill notifying Virginia parents who own firearms about safely storing those guns passed in the state senate.
Sb225 passed 23 to 16 in the Senate on Tuesday. Before it got to the Senate floor, it narrowly passed through an education committee at the start of February.
The vote there was 9 yes’s and 6 no’s.
The bill puts an extra task for school boards to remind Virginia parents with guns the importance of safe storage and that the responsibility falls on them to keep those firearms secure in the home.
Lawmakers call for gun safety measures
The bill says it requires each school board to notify parents of their legal responsibility to safely store any guns in the home, the risks associated with not storing the firearm correctly, statistics relating to gun-related accidents, injuries and death among juveniles.
The piece of legislation was introduced by state democratic senator for District 36 Stella Pekarsky.
The bill says it requires each local school board to develop and implement a policy to require the annual notification of the parent of each student enrolled in the local school division, to be sent by email and SMS text message within 30 calendar days succeeding the first day of each school year.