Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Abigail Spanberger’s Sprawling Gun Crackdown Hits Legal Wall Right Out Of The Gate

[Wikimedia Commons/Public/Ezra Deutsch-Feldman]

Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s ban on so-called “assault weapons” has only been law for a few hours and it’s already facing a slew of legal challenges.

The Virginia Democrat signed the legislation, SB 749, into law Thursday despite the General Assembly rejecting her amendments to the bill, claiming that the gun ban would “protect families.” The National Rifle Association announced its federal and state litigation with a post on X and a press release, with the Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition following suit Thursday.

The Trump administration also plans to sue over the ban, with Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announcing the legal move late Thursday.

“As promised, we are taking Abigail Spanberger to court. Throughout the legislative session, the NRA and our members fought Richmond’s radical gun control package tooth and nail,” NRA-ILA Executive Director John Commerford said in a statement. “We made it clear that this extreme anti-gun proposal, which bans the new purchase of commonly owned firearms and standard capacity magazines in the Commonwealth, is a blatant violation of Second Amendment rights and an affront to landmark Supreme Court cases.”

🚨BREAKING: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger has signed legislation banning America’s Rifle!

The NRA is filing two major lawsuits in Virginia to challenge @GovernorVA‘s anti-Second Amendment agenda.

“We’re not going to stand idly by and let this new governor ban America’s rifle… pic.twitter.com/iYH212Sqa5

— NRA (@NRA) May 15, 2026

“Instead of listening to these factual concerns from their constituents, progressive politicians sided with Michael Bloomberg and his gun-grabbing groups,” Commerford continued. “The NRA will not sit idly by while progressive politicians strip the rights of law-abiding citizens, and our world-class legal team is locked, loaded, and ready to shoot down this outrageous gun-control law.”

The Firearms Policy Coalition announced its suit on behalf of two members in a Thursday night post on X. Their lawsuit specifically called out the origin of the term “assault weapon.”

“The banned semiautomatic firearms, including AR-style rifles, other similar semiautomatic rifles, and semiautomatic pistols and shotguns, like all other semiautomatic firearms, fire only one round for each pull of the trigger,” FPC said. “They are not machine guns.”

In addition to the ban on so-called “assault weapons,” the bill Spanberger signed also outlaws standard-capacity magazines, setting an arbitrary limit of 15 rounds. “Assault weapons” is a euphemism that gun-control advocates use to gain support for banning certain semi-automatic firearms with features that provide a cosmetic similarity to firearms capable of fully-automatic operation.

FPC LEGAL UPDATE: We just filed a federal lawsuit challenging Virginia’s “assault weapon” and magazine bans https://t.co/4BMS4Ttdy5

— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) May 15, 2026

“Last night, Virginia joined a minority of states thumbing their nose at the Constitution and the Second Amendment rights of its residents by enacting a ban on ‘assault weapons’ and restricting magazine capacities to no more than 15 rounds,” SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut said in a statement. “SAF will relentlessly pursue this issue until the Supreme Court finally addresses the constitutionality of these bans that have adversely affected millions of Americans for years, and now, our friends in Virginia. It is time the end-run around the constitutional protections of the Second Amendment that legislatures have been using come to an abrupt end.”

“These bans are an afront to the Constitution and an insult to the intelligence of Virginians who were fed lies and misrepresentations by their elected officials,” SAF founder Alan Gottlieb also said. “We’re excited to fast track this case to the Supreme Court.”

The Department of Justice sued the city of Denver over a similar ban on May 5 and filed litigation seeking to throw out Colorado’s magazine ban May 6.