Warner, Kaine introduce ‘Lucia’s Law’ in Congress to hold parents accountable if kids access parents’ guns

Virginia’s U.S. Senators have introduced a bill in Congress they say could reduce gun violence in America.

Included in their proposal is a provision commonly known as “Lucia’s Law.”

In 2021, 13-year-old Lucia Bremer died in her mother’s arms after being shot nine times in Henrico County. Her killer was a fellow teenager with documented mental health problems, who used a loaded handgun he found in his home.

‘We had that tragedy in Central Virginia where a caregiver frankly should have been aware that they were giving a gun to someone that could be in harm’s way,” Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia) told 8News.

Warner and Senator Tim Kaine’s (D-Virginia) measure would charge parents with a crime if their child gets access to their gun after they were deemed a threat to themselves or others.

“Maybe if Lucia’s Law had been in place earlier, we could have prevented the enormous tragedy that took place in Newport News a number of months back where the schoolteacher was shot,” Warner explained.

Last month, Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-Virginia) signed a similar measure into law on the state level, after it received bipartisan support in the General Assembly.

On the federal level, pointing to a recent case in Michigan, where the parents of a convicted mass shooter were convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Warner says most Americans agree that adults need to be more responsible with their firearms.

“I think this direction of holding adults responsible when firearms get in the hands of minors that shouldn’t be in their hands, I think this is starting to be a national movement.”

The Virginia Citizens Defense League, one of the most vocal pro-Second Amendment groups in Virginia, says they are neutral on Lucia’s Law.