In a state with 1,237 gun deaths, including 58 children, from gun violence in 2023, safe gun storage should be our first line of defense against preventable shootings. We know this because we see the consequences. One of us, Dr. Katherine Hoops, is a pediatric intensive care physician who has too often cared for children critically injured by access to unsecured firearms. The other, State Senator Jennifer Boysko, hears from families across her district who want lawmakers to act before another tragedy occurs. From both sides of this crisis, the patient care and policy making, the message is the same: Virginia must strengthen its safe storage laws.
Firearms are a part of life in the commonwealth. We keep them in our homes for many reasons, such as for shooting sports, hunting and home defense. Practicing safe storage is another layer of defense against injury, suicide and theft. These policies can meet Virginians where they are, and they are saving lives in states where they are already in place.
We know easy access to firearms by children is a problem. More than 15% of surveyed Virginia high school students said they could access and use a loaded firearm without parental permission in less than 10 minutes, and more than 30% said it would take them less than a day. But we also know policy can help change behaviors. Comprehensive safe gun storage laws provide adequate safety guidelines to lower the risk of harm. They are based on a core tenet of injury prevention: separating at-risk individuals — like children and teenagers — from potential sources of harm can prevent injury.
Today, Virginia’s law is ambivalent and incomplete. It provides a penalty for recklessly leaving a loaded, unsecured gun in a way that endangers a child under 14, but does not require that firearms be locked up when children are present and says nothing about unloaded guns with ammunition nearby for teens ages 14-18, a vulnerable population at risk of impulsive behaviors that can lead to suicide. If this is the state’s first defense, Virginia is in trouble. The state can and must strengthen the policy to save lives.
State legislators have already acted. The general assembly sent a fix to the governor’s desk in the past two sessions. It was vetoed twice.
As a pediatric intensive care physician, I see the devastation and heartbreak that firearm-related harm causes families and communities. In my career, I have seen too many children who are critically injured or even killed after gaining access to unsafely stored guns. An estimated 1 in 3 American households with children have firearms in the home, but more than half of these gun owners fail to securely store all of them. Each one of these guns must be stored securely — every gun, every time.
In Newport News and across the state in recent years, this reality had tragic outcomes. In 2023, the mother of a 6-year-old boy stored her handgun unsecurely, in her purse, on top of a dresser — he found it, brought it to school and shot his 1st grade teacher at their classroom reading table. The child’s mother was sentenced to years of prison time, and his former teacher lives without the full use of her left hand.
Your children are wonderfully smart and curious. Even if you think you’re hiding a firearm out of sight or out of reach, kids can and will find a way to get their hands on it. Our laws should reflect that reality. If you are not using it, a gun should be unloaded and locked up.
From the legislative perspective, now is the time to enact safe storage bills that fully address the critical needs of our residents. Ensuring firearms are stored safely proactively prevents criminals, thieves, children and people at risk for violence or suicide from accessing them.
Public health research shows that safe gun storage policies could significantly reduce the risk of gun suicide among children, especially among teens, who are among the most vulnerable. Researchers and clinicians alike tell us that firearms are the deadliest method of suicide. If a firearm is used in an attempted suicide, the person dies 9 times out of 10. When other methods are used, that person usually survives, and research shows they do not typically attempt suicide again.
States across the country are following the evidence and considering laws to create protective guardrails between firearms and young people in crisis. Virginia should, too.
These policies are also popular. According to the Johns Hopkins national survey of gun policy, 74% of surveyed Americans — including a majority of gun owners — support laws that require a person to lock up guns in their home when they’re not in use.
It’s heartbreaking to walk into the hospital, or the Virginia capitol, and learn of another tragedy — another family forever changed. Their experiences compel us to act with empathy, diligence and resolve. We all have a role to play in making Virginia a safer place for every community, so together, we can help save lives. But lasting change requires more than individual behavior — it requires decisive action from lawmakers. The cost of inaction will be measured in the lives we lose to senseless shootings. The moment for impactful leadership is now, Virginia. Lives depend on it.
Katherine Hoops, MD, JD, MPH, is the Director of Clinical Programs and Practice at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. She is also an attending physician in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Views expressed herein are her own.
Jennifer B. Boysko (SD-38) is a State Senator of Virginia representing the Town of Herndon and other communities in northern Fairfax County.