Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) and the General Assembly’s ruling anti-gun majority have delayed the enactment of one of their most controversial pieces of legislation, a severe restriction on Virginians’ ability to move about the state with commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms.
As readers may know from NRA-ILA or national news coverage, this year the Virginia General Assembly set out to ban the importation, sale, manufacture, purchase, or transfer of so-called “assault firearms.” The term “assault firearm” is defined to include any semi-automatic centerfire rifle capable of accepting a detachable magazine and configured with any one of a list of features somehow offensive to gun control advocates – implicating America’s most popular rifle, the AR-15. The term also covers semi-automatic shotguns with any one disfavored feature and semi-automatic centerfire pistols with any two listed features.
Last week, NRA secured a preliminary injunction enjoining the Virginia State Police from enforcing the ban. Old Dominion gun owners should continue to follow NRA-ILA updates for a forthcoming order from the judge in that case that should further explain the scope of the injunction.
In addition to the “assault firearm” transfer ban, the General Assembly enacted SB727/HB1524, restricting the carry of the newly defined “assault firearms.”
At present, Virginia law (§ 18.2-287.4) generally prohibits the carry of a semi-automatic centerfire rifle or pistol equipped with a magazine with a capacity greater than 20 rounds,
or designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer or equipped with a folding stock or (b) shotgun with a magazine that will hold more than seven rounds of the longest ammunition for which it is chambered on or about his person on any public street, road, alley, sidewalk, public right-of-way, or in any public park or any other place of whatever nature that is open to the public in the Cities of Alexandria, Chesapeake, Fairfax, Falls Church, Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond, or Virginia Beach or in the Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Henrico, Loudoun, or Prince William.
Concealed handgun permit holders are exempt from the prohibition.
The new carry restriction expanded the types of firearms implicated under the ban to include all those listed in the new “assault firearm” transfer ban, expanded the restriction to the entire Commonwealth, and removed the exemption for concealed handgun permit holders.
This carry and transportation restriction was set to go into effect on July 1. On June 26, Gov. Spanberger sent a list of amendments to the state budget to the General Assembly that included an amendment changing the effective date of the new “assault firearm” carry ban to July 1, 2027. This amendment was adopted and the budget bill has been enacted.
This is a welcome temporary reprieve for Virginia’s law-abiding gun owners. However, given comments by one of the “assault firearm” carry ban’s patrons, the motivation behind the delay appears to be that SB727/HB1524 would have unintentionally expanded recognition of gun rights in a very narrow set of circumstances.
The new “assault firearm” carry ban dispensed with the current statute’s magazine capacity language, opting instead for the definition of “assault firearm” from the new transfer ban, which relied on banned features.
Therefore, the new language would have resulted in an individual being able to lawfully carry a ban compliant semi-automatic rifle or pistol equipped with a magazine with a capacity greater than 20 rounds in the enumerated localities without a concealed handgun permit.
Understanding that this is Virginia anti-gun lawmakers’ motivation for the delay, rather than any grudging acknowledgement of the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, Old Dominion gun rights supporters must remain vigilant to any changes coming next legislative session that would further undermine their rights.
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