State Senator Dave Marsden Wants Legal Gun Owners to Held Liable for Actions of Criminals

Virginia Public Radio station WVTF reported last week that State Senator Dave Marsden wants gun owners to be held liable if their gun is used in a crime or suicide.

“All guns start out legal, and then 60% of the guns that end up being used in crimes or in suicides are in the hands of people who don’t own them or didn’t originally own them. We’re careless with our guns.”

First, I would tell Senator Marsden to speak for himself.   While there are some gun owners that are not as responsible with their firearms as they should be given that there are instances of negligent discharge and when a child injures themselves with an improperly stored firearm, to lump all gun owners into that category is just hyperbole.

A legal expert, Rich Kelsy, interviewed by WVTF, had this to say about Marsden's proposal:

“For you to make a gun owner liable for injuries because his gun was lost or stolen and a third party used it in the commission of a crime or for injuries would turn tort law upside down.”

Marsden is no stranger to going after legal gun owners instead of criminals when it comes to reducing the criminal use of firearms. He is a regular sponsor of gun ban legislation in the State Senate.

NRATV's Cam Edwards discussed Marsden's proposal on Dana Loesch program this past Monday.


The National Shooting Sports Foundation's (NSSF) Project Childsafe encourages gun owners to store their firearms securely when they are not in use.  That's a much better way of getting gun owners to keep their firearms away from those who should not have them than to threaten gun owners that they will be held responsible if a criminal get's their gun