Foster care; possession of firearm. (SB1315)

Introduced By

Sen. Bill Carrico (R-Grayson)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Foster care; possession of firearm. Requires that possession of any firearms or other weapons in a foster home comply with federal and state laws and that the individual providing foster care services store all firearms, other weapons, and ammunition in a locked closet or cabinet unless they are being lawfully carried on the individual's person. The bill requires that the key or combination to the locked closet or cabinet be maintained out of the reach of all children in the home. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Failed

History

DateAction
01/10/2017Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100651D
01/10/2017Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services
01/16/2017Impact statement from DPB (SB1315)
01/27/2017Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services (14-Y 1-N) (see vote tally)
01/30/2017Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
01/31/2017Read second time and engrossed
02/01/2017Read third time and passed Senate (38-Y 2-N) (see vote tally)
02/03/2017Placed on Calendar
02/03/2017Read first time
02/03/2017Referred to Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety
02/06/2017Assigned MPPS sub: #1
02/16/2017Subcommittee recommends reporting (3-Y 1-N)
02/17/2017Reported from Militia, Police and Public Safety (11-Y 10-N) (see vote tally)
02/20/2017Read second time
02/21/2017Passed by for the day
02/22/2017Passed by for the day
02/23/2017Read third time
02/23/2017Pending question ordered
02/23/2017Passed House (65-Y 35-N)
02/23/2017VOTE: PASSAGE (65-Y 35-N) (see vote tally)
03/07/2017Enrolled
03/07/2017Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1315ER)
03/07/2017Impact statement from DPB (SB1315ER)
03/07/2017Signed by Speaker
03/10/2017Signed by President
03/13/2017Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 3/13/17
03/13/2017G Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
03/24/2017Governor's recommendation received by Senate
03/24/2017Governor's substitute printed 17105970D-S1
04/05/2017Senate rejected Governor's recommendation (16-Y 24-N) (see vote tally)
04/05/2017Communicated to Governor
04/05/2017G Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, May 5, 2017
04/27/2017G Vetoed by Governor

Video

This bill was discussed on the floor of the General Assembly. Below is all of the video that we have of that discussion, 3 clips in all, totaling 22 minutes.

Transcript

This is a transcript of the video clips in which this bill is discussed.

SURE. SO LINE 19 IT SAYS THAT A WARRANT COULD BE ISSUED TO SEARCH FOR ANY OBJECTING OR THING, OR PERSON. AND SO THAT IS WHY I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY IT IS NECESSARY. OVER THE YEARS I HAVE LEARNED TRYING TO CRAFT THINGS ON THE FLOOR CAN BE PROBLEMATIC. THE IF I CAN ASK THIS BILL PASSED BYE, TEMPORARILY.

Del. Bill Howell (R-Fredericksburg): WITHOUT OBJECTION, SENATE BILL 1206 PASSED BYE, TEMPORARILY.

[Unknown]: REGULAR CALENDAR, SENATE BILLS ON THIRD READING. 1128, A BILL RELATED TO VIRGINIA FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT AND. MRP MR. PRESIDENT? I REQUEST IT GO BYE FOR THE DAY.

Del. Bill Howell (R-Fredericksburg): WITHOUT OBJECTION, BYE FOR THE DAY.

[Unknown]: SENATE BILL 1441. A BILL RELATED TO ABSENTEE VOTING ELIGIBILITY OF PERSONS WHOSE POLLING PLACE PROHIBITS FIREARMS. SENIOR SENATOR FROM RICHMOND CITY, SENATOR STURDEVANT. CAN THAT GO BYE FOR THE DAY?

Del. Bill Howell (R-Fredericksburg): WITHOUT OBJECTION, BYE FOR THE DAY.

[Unknown]: SENATE BILL 907. MR. PRESIDENT?

Del. Bill Howell (R-Fredericksburg): SENATOR FROM EASTERN FAIRFAX COUNTY I'M YIELDING TO THE


[Unknown]: safety. Mr. Speaker.

Del. Bill Howell (R-Fredericksburg): the gentleman from south bridge, Mr. Cline.

Del. Ben Cline (R-Amherst): Mr. Speaker, speaking to the bill. Mr. Speaker, senate bill 1315 codifies regulation regarding the storage of firea! S by foster families. And I would move the passage of the bill.

[Unknown]: Mr. Speaker.

Del. Ben Cline (R-Amherst): the gentleman from fhe arfax, Mr. Sullivan.

Del. Rip Sullivan (D-Arlington): would the gentleman yield for a yesany&

[Unknown]: does thia yie& the bany&

Del. Rip Sullivan (D-Arlington): I will.

[Unknown]: you won't be surprised and no one in the body would be sur priced toittenow that I donthe gen own a gun, have never obe sed a gun. But I would ask the gentleman isn't it the best practice for ng thn safety in the home in which a chi& the b is present to store a gun separately from its ammunition? Mr. Speaker, I wou& the b say to the gentleman not necessarily. And I think that in most homes the guns are stored in close proximity if not with the amheanition. further question, Mr. Speaker. does the gentleman yie& I yie& the b? the b. the gentleman yields. isn't it true that the current regulation for foster parents in virginia whiver is bill is getting ready to override requires that gun and ammunition be stored in separate locked ldemoationsany& Mr. Speaker that is my understanding. speaking to the bill, Mr. Speaker.

Del. Bill Howell (R-Fredericksburg): a couple of other people ahead of you but I will come back from you. The gentleman from prince will vm, Mr. Lingamfelter.

Del. Scott Lingamfelter (R-Woodbridge): I wou& the b like to speak to the bill.

[Unknown]: the get has the floor.

Del. Scott Lingamfelter (R-Woodbridge): tha a you, Mr. Speaker. To the gentleman's point that just spoke, delegate sullivan on the best practice the best practice to secure a firea! From someone is obviously to lock it. The bill before you basically says that that practice I believeon less the amendment has changed it, the intent of the patron was to say you need to lourr the firea! And ighl amheanition in a bdin and then keep that lock and combination away from children. And it seems like that was a fairthe be reinable approach -- reasonable approach here given the fact if you lack at say a military a! S roonde ng thess what? Both the weapons and am ammunition are locked together in a militag r harms r awnde I donthe gen thi a there is any dispute on this side that we think that firearms should be kept away from chi& the bren. This bill still does tha t it simply says that the ammunition and the firearm can be together in a ldemoked conthe aner and the combination and lock has to be kept away from the children. and so, I thi a that is what this bill continues to doon sess the gentleman from rock bridge has amended it in some fashion. I thi a thearis thatstion be biore you is do you think it is safer to lock the ammunition in a no chi separate bdin from the gun or I wou& the b suggest to you that if it is locked and secured a child cannot get into that bdin and I think that is a safe condition. And that is what the patron a suggesting in his bill and I think that is what is be biore you today. But it is certainly not unprecedented, I would say to the gentleman from arlington, that firea! S and the a from runition can beitteept in the same locked container that is something that ma? Many virginians do in ctirearms safes that they have for, say, their rifles and shotguns. I would suggest also that if you have to have access to your ctirearm in order to protect your home and property it is good to be ant oe to have both the amheanition and the firea! Close together, otherwise you might be the victim that was sithitioage ong from one end of your home to the yourself. other trying to protect I hope you will support the bill.

[Unknown]: I'm going to suspend for a moment. The sergeant a arms. Mr. Speaker. A message from the senate. senator obenshain. g awd to see you, Mr. Speaker. good to see you. [Laughter] I have been directed. we wereitteind of wondering where you were. it's about time. I have been directed by the info! President Of the senate to The house of delegates that the senate agreed to house he sint resand weution 1088. yeah.

Del. Bill Howell (R-Fredericksburg): the gentleman from shenandoah, Mr. Gilbert.

Del. Todd Gilbert (R-Woodstock): speaking to the bill, Mr. Speaker.

Del. Bill Howell (R-Fredericksburg): the gentleman has the floor.

Del. Todd Gilbert (R-Woodstock): I want to squarify for some members who May be confused by the tile letter wgat bert, lopez, tyler et cetera coalition that the gentleman from rock bridge and the gentleman from fauquier and I intend to vote in favor of this bill. Despite our reservations that were different from the rese coations others had on the other side of the aisle. The bill appears? One respect to revisit or restate e? Sting pand weicy weather policy. that is federal law or dss And it is the more relaxing aspects of the bill that tend to give a homeobe ser someone, who is a foster care provider more rights which are much less restrictive than the reng thlations. And so our concern was with having the appearance of restricting theoriin the first place whiver in fact we are not doing by passing this bill. By passing this bill we are affording them more rig als to protect themselves and their foster children. And dae spite the drafting that we t awk on w desgat te the drafting, we believe it is a p t tive step forward in helping such people protect themselves and such verilhangen. Ithe will be voting in favor of the bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Del. Bill Howell (R-Fredericksburg): the gentleman from fhe arfax, Mr. Yill anan.

[Unknown]: thaot you, Mr. Speaker. Speaking to the bill.

Del. Bill Howell (R-Fredericksburg): the gentleman has the floor.

[Unknown]: youittenow, ladies and gentlemen, when I first read this bill, seemed like a good idea putting guns in safes. Sounds like the smart thing to do. But then if you scratch at it just a little bit, what you find out that what this bill is doing is weakening current rules. The current regulations that govern foster parenghl in vistrinia. I asked the gentleman about I t let me read the regulation. Title 2, chapter 14 sectionnal00. Section f requires that the ctirearms be ldemoked in one place and section g requires that ammunition be ldemoked in a separate ldemoatiopas that is the current state of the law in virginia. The current state of what we require of f t er parenghl? Vistrindo.. gentlemen. I did research, ladies and A magazine I never read before. It is the pepulication of the united states con saled carry association. An article published aier ago titled how to prope say store your firea! S when you have a kid in the house. And what it recommends is that to be safesng to t the safest way to store guns in the home in which children are present is to secure the firearms in a ldemoked safe separate and apart from amheanition which is locked somewhere else. That is the gold standard for how toitteeep verilhangen safe in the home and it is the standard to which we now here in virginia hold and have held for some time our f t er parenghl. Noitt unfortunately, we can't get every parent in virginia to store their guns and a from runition that way and we allittenow the tragic statistics associated with that. Here is a situation where we are -- we are responsible. Ouse his is the foster care system here in virginia. The system that we oveodee. And we have in place a rule that weittenow to be the safest way to do it. What this bill does is weak than [Lale. > dskingut it.Dakota. Mr. Speaker would the gentleman rise for a question. the gentleman declines to age oeld. he declineier I said I'm happy too yield, Mr. Speaker. you said you are not going to age oeld. I she ad I will yie& the b. I'm sorry. Why would you want to do that? [Laughter] ise sure this is going to be a friendlyariuestion. I apologize. The gentleman yields. thaot you, Mr. Speaker. I wou& the b like to aon the gentleman if he has ever been involved with the foster care pred craorior if he has been a foster parent h fself? I would say to the gentleman the answer to that is no, Mr. Speaker. I har my think that that disqwouldlifies me from commenting upon how it is we want to make yire our f t er chi& the bren in the co from ronwealth are protected. Now, the point was made about feeling safe and being ant oe to protect youodelf. Kingmeone wanghl toitteeep their guns in one place and maybe they should be a foster paren t but on w Mr. Speaker. the gentleman is answering your question. thank you. I'm sorg r. I want to point out to the body and caution the body what a undeniably true is that this bail weakens the e? Sting reng thlatog r law inat thirginia and laeates a situation in which foster children and the homes in which they l ane with not be as safe as they are tde aay. I urge a no vote on the bill, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Fariss. Mr. Speaker, I wou& the b like to inform you and the body that one of the things I'm most proud of is the fact that my wife and I were f t er parents. And we took kids into our home that had been beaten, burned, treated terrint oe. When they came to our house I can remember times that I didn't sleep all night just because I was sofe pset about the way they had been treated. We we had home inspections and there wasn't f t er chi& the bren in my home. It t awk all day t awting all of the guns and am mu guns on wt, [Please stand by]T, Members, please take your seats.

Comments

Kevin Raymond writes:

If there are guns in a foster home, it is the duty of someone to check on these homes periodically - police departments, sheriff offices and/or social workers. Also, a "peaceful" home may be uprooted by a foster child and the gun owner needs to be more vigilant because of the foster child new to a home.