The Virginia House of Delegates voted Monday to delay the effective date of a ban on carrying modern semiautomatic firearms after suffering a defeat in court.
A judge in Lancaster County, Virginia, issued a preliminary injunction Friday following legal action by pro-Second Amendment organizations. The Virginia state legislators passed the amendment, which was included among recommendations by Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, by a 56-34 vote Monday.
“It is delaying the prohibition on CARRYING an ‘assault firearm’ in public for a year,” Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) President Philip Van Cleave told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “You still won’t be able to buy them.”
BREAKING
Just days after GOA, @GunFoundation, & @VCDL_ORG secured a preliminary injunction against Virginia’s “assault weapons” carry ban, the Assembly voted to delay implementation of the gun ban until 2027.
They’ve already lost the fight and they know it.
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) June 29, 2026
“Just days after GOA, @GunFoundation, & @VCDL_ORG secured a preliminary injunction against Virginia’s ‘assault weapons’ carry ban, the Assembly voted to delay implementation of the gun ban until 2027,” Gun Owners of America (GOA) posted. “They’ve already lost the fight and they know it.”
Spanberger signed the ban on so-called “assault weapons,” SB 749, and the “carry ban” into law on May 14, drawing immediate suits from pro-Second Amendment organizations. In addition to the ban on so-called “assault weapons,” the bill Spanberger signed also would outlaw standard-capacity magazines, setting an arbitrary limit of 15 rounds as of July 1.
Spanberger included a provision to delay the implementation of the carry ban by one year in her amendments to the state budget during a special legislative session.
The Lancaster County judge blocked the ban on modern semiautomatic firearms through Dec. 31 in his ruling. The NRA heralded a statewide injunction issued by Washington County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Campbell in a Monday post on X.
BREAKING: Judge Jeffrey Campbell just handed a major win for the Second Amendment through an injunction in Santolla V. Katz, prohibiting the enforcement of @GovernorVA’s unconstitutional “assault weapons” ban.
The NRA is proud to deliver this win, but we are not stopping… pic.twitter.com/SALzjdNJkj
— NRA (@NRA) June 29, 2026
Gun owners in Virginia were racing to purchase modern semiautomatic firearms before the ban took effect, with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson taking to X Sunday to complain about delays while tagging Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon.
“Just visited my neighborhood gun dealer in Virginia. The Virginia State Police @VSPPIO is delaying background checks en masse in one of the most flagrant violations of our rights that I’ve seen,” Ferguson posted. “This is outrageous. Our police are aiding radical leftists to disarm Americans. Thankfully, we have @AAGDhillon.”
The General Assembly has just voted to DELAY the implementation of the “assault firearm” public CARRY prohibition until July 1 of 2027. So, the carry law (18.2-287.4) will remain unchanged for another year. If you have a CHP, you can continue to carry a firearm in public…
— Philip Van Cleave VCDL (@VCDL_ORG) June 29, 2026
“The VSP Firearms Transaction Center is currently experiencing a high volume of transactions and is working diligently to process them as quickly as possible,” Virginia State Police Public Relations Director Robin Lawson told the DCNF. “In June alone, the Firearms Transaction Center has completed more than 100,000 transactions and is averaging over 5,000 transactions per day.”
Van Cleave told the DCNF he did not attribute the situation to malice by the Virginia State Police.
“My gut feeling is, and also talking to some dealers and stuff, I think it’s just sheer volume of what’s happening now,” Van Cleave said. “One person, one dealer that talked to the state police was told, well, the other problem that they had was this is a temporary spike, so to train more people to help during this time takes months and so they didn’t feel like they could make that huge investment just for a few weeks.”
Ferguson did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the DCNF.
(DCNF)