Virginia’s Crime Commission met in Richmond today for day one of a two part meeting on gun violence. The meeting comes after lawmakers abruptly adjourned a special session on gun control last month.
Monday the Crime Commission listened to hours of testimony from experts.
Republicans say passing the topic over to the commission means they’re committed to a deliberate, data-driven approach to addressing gun violence.
“Rather than simply the prevailing politically popular proposal of the day," says Republican Senator Mark Obenshain, who chairs the group. "We’ve long relied on the Crime Commission to perform this role and they perform it very effectively and it’s a process.”
But Democrats that's a process that's meant to distract and delay.
Delegate Charniele Herring says if Republicans were serious about these bills, many first proposed after the Virginia Tech shooting, they would have been sent to the Commission years ago.
“It’s a stalling tactic," Herring says. "I’m hoping that what’s going to come from this is that we have some evidence based initiatives that we can go ahead and push out. I mean the Chairman did say that he’s well aware of the deadline. And I’m working in good faith and believing that he realizes that we have to do something.”
The deadline is when the General Assembly reconvenes in November to continue their special legislative session on gun control. Obenshain says he’s hopeful the Commission will have a report and recommendations for lawmakers by then.
“I mean we absolutely want to prevent gun crimes," Obenshain says. "We want to make sure that people in Virginia are safer. We want to prevent suicides across Virginia. Those are worthy goals that are within the scope of what we’re working on.”
According to the Virginia Department of Health there were 1,210 gun related deaths in the state in 2018. Roughly two-thirds of those were suicides.
An expert from the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium testified that certain policies demonstrably reduce gun deaths, including universal background checks and giving authorities discretion in issuing concealed carry permits. Another policy that shows success is prohibiting people who have violent misdeamenors from getting a gun.
Another presenter from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice spoke about the success of community-based violence intervention programs.
"It's just talking to people," summarized David Kennedy. "It's not fancy."
The Commission meets again Tuesday. They'll hear from lawmakers about specific proposals and take public comment. The meeting will be livestreamed.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
