Visitors entering Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth walk between two weapons-detection panels before reaching the hospital lobby.
The screening is one of the most visible changes patients may encounter as a new Virginia law prohibiting firearms and other dangerous weapons in many hospitals takes effect.
But the experience is not the same at every Hampton Roads hospital.
The law, which took effect July 1, prohibits people from carrying firearms, knives with blades longer than 3½ inches, explosives, stun weapons and other dangerous weapons inside hospitals that provide mental health or developmental services. Emergency departments and other facilities providing emergency care are also included.
The law requires hospitals to post notices at every public entrance, but it does not require them to install metal detectors or other weapons-screening technology.
That leaves hospitals to determine how they enforce the prohibition.
Sentara Health said walk-through weapons detection systems are operating at all emergency department and visitor entrances at its 12 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina.
The health system began installing the technology in 2022 and said it has since intercepted more than 15,000 weapons, including firearms, knives and tasers.
Riverside Health said Riverside Regional Medical Center already has weapons detection at its emergency department. The system has also been installing detection systems at emergency department entrances across its other hospitals since the spring.
Bon Secours has installed a weapons detector at Maryview Hospital. The health system declined to publicly describe all of its security measures, citing security concerns, but said it continues to invest in training, technology and other resources to prevent and respond to threats.
During a recent visit to Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, WHRO did not observe weapons screening at the hospital’s main entrance. Signs notifying visitors of the weapons prohibition were posted outside.
Portsmouth resident Casey Relation said he did not have to empty his pockets or walk through a detector when entering Chesapeake Regional.
“Usually people are in pain or they’re drunk or something like that coming to the hospital,” Relation said. “I feel much safer knowing that they’re not carrying a gun into that hospital.”
Chesapeake resident Venetta Charles said she supports gun ownership but would not object to additional screening in high-traffic places such as hospitals and schools.
“I wouldn’t mind walking through a metal detector, just for peace of mind,” Charles said.
Charles said she saw no visible security outside the emergency department. Although she did not initially feel unsafe, she said the lack of screening made her consider how easily someone carrying a weapon might enter.
Sydney Cole, who recently spent five days at Chesapeake Regional, said she supports the Second Amendment but believes hospitals are an appropriate place to restrict firearms.
“I don’t see a reason for an individual to bring a firearm into a hospital,” Cole said.
Cole said she was not surprised Chesapeake Regional had not yet installed visible screening, adding that businesses often need time to catch up after a new law takes effect.
Spokesperson Tricia Hardy said the detector is expected to arrive in August, but she did not explain the delay.
