{"id":24353,"date":"2026-05-15T14:33:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T14:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/05\/15\/democrat-governor-signs-sweeping-ban-that-targets-americas-favorite-firearms\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T14:33:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T14:33:53","slug":"democrat-governor-signs-sweeping-ban-that-targets-americas-favorite-firearms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/05\/15\/democrat-governor-signs-sweeping-ban-that-targets-americas-favorite-firearms\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrat Governor Signs Sweeping Ban That Targets America\u2019s Favorite Firearms"},"content":{"rendered":"


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In a direct assault on the constitutional rights of law-abiding Virginians, Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger signed a sweeping package of gun control measures, including a ban on commonly owned semi-automatic firearms and standard-capacity magazines.<\/p>\n

Spanberger signed the legislation into law on Thursday, criminalizing the purchase, sale, manufacture, and importation of the AR-15 \u2014 the most popular rifle in America \u2014 along with a wide range of semi-automatic handguns and shotguns. The National Rifle Association responded immediately, filing a state lawsuit to block these unconstitutional mandates before the ink could even dry.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Spanberger has once again proven she has no concern for the right to keep and bear arms,\u201d the NRA stated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the governor attempted to frame her last-minute amendments as \u201ctechnical changes,\u201d the NRA has denounced them as a transparent attempt to rebrand blatant violations of the Second Amendment.<\/p>\n

When she campaigned for governor, Spanberger studiously avoided<\/a> calling for the kind of ban she just signed, saying instead, \u201cWe need to strengthen Virginia\u2019s safe storage laws, prevent the sale of large-capacity magazines, and crack down on criminals who manufacture and possess illegal, untraceable ghost guns \u2014 efforts that would keep Virginia\u2019s kids, families, and law enforcement officers safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NRA\u2019s lawsuit,\u00a0Santolla v. Katz<\/em>, filed in the Washington County Circuit Court, argues that the bans violate the arms guarantee in Article I, Section 13 of the Virginia Constitution. Because the Virginia Supreme Court has historically interpreted this provision as parallel with the Second Amendment, the NRA contends the state is barred from prohibiting firearms and magazines that are in common use for lawful purposes.<\/p>\n

Joining the NRA as plaintiffs are the Virginia Shooting Sports Association (VSSA), local firearm dealers, and several Virginia citizens.<\/p>\n

In addition to the firearm and magazine bans, Spanberger signed measures that prohibit the possession of weapons in hospitals providing mental health services, raise the age to purchase certain firearms to 21, and implement restrictive \u201csafe storage\u201d requirements that dictate how citizens must keep arms in their own homes.<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s office cited \u201ccombat use\u201d as a justification for the ban, but the NRA reminded the commonwealth that these firearms are used daily by millions of Americans for self-defense, hunting, and competitive shooting.<\/p>\n

As the law is set to take effect on July 1, 2026, the NRA\u2019s Institute for Legislative Action said it is prepared to pursue every legal avenue to ensure that the fundamental rights of Virginians are not trampled by a hostile executive.<\/p>\n

Along with the state lawsuit, the NRA also filed a federal lawsuit, McDonald v. Katz,\u00a0<\/em>with the Firearms Policy Coalition,<\/span> the Second Amendment Foundation, and other individuals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a direct assault on the constitutional rights of law-abiding Virginians, Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger signed a sweeping package of gun control measures, including a ban on commonly owned semi-automatic firearms and standard-capacity magazines. Spanberger signed the legislation into law on Thursday, criminalizing the purchase, sale, manufacture, and importation of the AR-15 \u2014 the most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-24353","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-current-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}