Just like what happened in a Georgia city last year, a bill that recently passed the Viriginia Senate would fine people who have their gun stolen from a parked car. Unlike the controversial measure from 2023, this one stipulates that the firearm must be in sight of a passerby. If that’s the case, not only does the victim lose their gun but also are fined $500.
Remember when a Georgia mayor wanted to do something similar last year.
Those who helped push the bill through say there’s an epidemic of gun theft in Viginia, as reported by the Virginia Mercury. That sure sounds scary, so we can see why punishing people who have their firearms stolen must seem very reasonable.
Senator Dave Marsden, a Democrat hailing from Fairfax, is the sponsor of the bill. He argues that “We cannot have our vehicles here in the commonwealth act as vending machines for firearms.”
What we want to know is if Marsden has any idea what guns and ammunition cost. Why would anyone purposely leave their firearm out and have it stolen? One might as well leave a few hundred dollar bills sitting on their car dash as well, because it makes about as much sense.
Another big question we have is how do authorities determine a gun was sitting in plain view? Do the police just kind of guess or do they assess this fine only if they don’t like a theft victim?
Instead of toughening laws concerning car theft and those how break into vehicles to steal valuables out of them, this bill goes after victims. The only reason we can think of for taking this approach is that those who support this measure hate anyone who owns a firearm and this is one way to punish them while continuing to blame them for violent crime committed by actual criminals.
We had hoped the proposal in Georgia last year would be the last time we saw something like it. But here we are in early 2024 with this nonsense possibly being passed into law in Virginia.
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