https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/wave-rising-in-me-va-delegate-shares-family-tragedy-in-support-of-red-flag-law/2976408/

This is why I don’t like Republicans, as a party. No matter many “good”Republicans there are, the party controls.

«”My brother was beautiful, brilliant, beloved, funny, troubled,” she said

A few years ago, she got a panicked call from her parents’ Clarke County home. Her brother was drunk and had a gun.

“The sheriff deputy arrived, asked for the firearm. My brother handed it to him,” she said.

The deputy worked to calm her brother.

“At the end of 45 minutes, [the deputy] had no choice because of our laws in Virginia a few years ago, but to hand the firearm back to my brother. I no longer have that brother,” she told the lawmakers. “A few weeks later he shot himself with that firearm. You think about that as you vote for this bill!”

The vote: 52 to 46 in favor of the repeal. [Republican-sponsored repeal of Virginia’s existing red flag law.]

“I bet it did change some minds, but they’re not allowed to vote the way they believe,” Gooditis told News4. “I had Republicans coming up to me afterwards and hugging me and telling me they were so sorry to hear it.”»