Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s efforts to enact a sweeping gun-control agenda have been placed on hold by courts in June, while the state Legislature pushed back the effective date of another law.
Since Thursday, judges in Lancaster County and Washington County issued preliminary injunctions preventing enforcement of a ban on modern semiautomatic firearms, while Spanberger had to request that the state Legislature delay the effective date of a ban on carrying such firearms. The National Rifle Association trumpeted their legal success in a Monday evening post on X.
“The NRA’s world-class legal team delivered a clear, powerful argument demonstrating that Abigail Spanberger’s gun ban is a blatant constitutional infringement on the rights of law-abiding Virginians,” NRA-ILA Executive Director John Commerford said in a statement released by the gun-rights group.
“The NRA’s world-class legal team delivered a clear, powerful argument demonstrating that Abigail Spanberger’s gun ban is a blatant constitutional infringement on the rights of law-abiding Virginians.” – NRA-ILA Executive Director @JCommerford. pic.twitter.com/13TDf7DSq5
— NRA (@NRA) June 29, 2026
The Virginia General Assembly approved Spanberger’s proposed amendments to a budget bill, which included the one-year delay on the “carry ban,” Monday.
Spanberger and Democratic Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones did not respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Pro-Second Amendment organizations filed suits after Spanberger signed the ban on so-called “assault weapons,” SB 749, and the “carry ban,” SB727, into law on May 14. In addition to the ban on so-called “assault weapons,” SB749 also would outlaw standard-capacity magazines, setting an arbitrary limit of 15 rounds as of July 1.
As of Thursday, 17 Commonwealth’s attorneys and 12 county sheriffs declared they wouldn’t enforce either the ban on modern semiautomatic firearms of the “carry ban,” according to the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL).
“The Assault Weapons Ban (SB 749/HB 217) and the Public Carry Ban (SB 727/HB 1524) are undoubtedly inconsistent with the historical tradition of Virginia, as articulated by Miller [v. United States], and are thus unconstitutional under Bruen,” Spotsylvania County Commonwealth’s Attorney G. Ryan Mehaffey wrote in a May 15 letter to Sheriff Roger L. Harris.
“Moreover, Heller secures the right of Virginians to keep and bear the most popular rifle in America, the AR-15,” Mehaffey continued.
Tuesday, the Supreme Court said it would hear two cases regarding bans on modern semiautomatic firearms, Viramontes v. Cook County, Illinois and Grant v. Higgins.
According to the Supreme Court’s decisions in Heller and Bruen, commonly used “arms” for lawful purposes are protected by the Second Amendment. The National Shooting Sports Foundation estimated in January that over 32 million modern sporting rifles were in circulation.
In his dissent to the 2000 Supreme Court decision in Stenberg v. Carhart, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the term “assault weapons” is a euphemism that gun-control advocates used to gain support for banning modern semi-automatic firearms.
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