{"id":2603329,"date":"2026-05-15T17:59:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T21:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawsuits-challenging-spanbergers-virginia-assault-firearms-gun-grab-pour-in\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T18:01:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T22:01:37","slug":"lawsuits-challenging-spanbergers-virginia-assault-firearms-gun-grab-pour-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawsuits-challenging-spanbergers-virginia-assault-firearms-gun-grab-pour-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuits Pour In Challenging Spanberger&#8217;s Virginia Gun Grab"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flawsuits-challenging-spanbergers-virginia-assault-firearms-gun-grab-pour-in%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2603329&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Multiple Second Amendment advocacy groups are challenging a new Virginia law that bans many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-to-congress-enact-major-restrictions-on-constitutionally-protected-second-amendment-rights\/\" title=\"Biden To Congress: Enact Major Restrictions On Constitutionally Protected Second ...\">semi-automatic firearms<\/a> and restricts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawrence-keane-ending-banking-discrimination-is-a-necessary-fight-for-the-firearm-industry\/\" title=\"...rence Keane: Ending Banking Discrimination is a Necessary Fight for the Firearm Industry\">standard-capacity magazines<\/a>. Gov.Abigail Spanberger signed the legislation, effective July 1, which the NRA says criminalizes purchases, transfers, manufacture, and importation of a wide range of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/20-state-ags-oppose-bidens-nominee-for-atf-director-because-of-his-extreme-positions\/\" title=\"20 State AGs Oppose Biden...s Nominee For ATF Director Because Of His \u2018Extreme Positions...\">commonly owned firearms<\/a> (including AR-15-type rifles) and prohibits magazines holding more than 15 rounds.  <\/p>\n<p>The lawsuits-filed in federal court and in Virginia state courts-name Virginia State Police Superintendent Jeffrey S. Katz as the defendant and also include additional Virginia prosecutors and sheriffs in some cases. Plaintiffs argue the bans violate the Second Amendment under U.S. Supreme Court rulings such as *Bruen* and *Heller* (as incorporated by *McDonald*). They contend the laws can\u2019t satisfy the required \u201cpast tradition\u201d standard because the banned weapons are widely owned.  <\/p>\n<p>The article also notes ongoing frustration that lower courts have allegedly not followed Supreme Court Second Amendment precedent and suggests the U.S. Supreme Court may eventually need to intervene again, especially as similar gun-control measures spread across other states.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Multiple Second Amendment rights advocates are suing Virginia\u2019s police superintendent after Gov. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., <a href=\"https:\/\/virginiamercury.com\/2026\/05\/15\/spanberger-signs-assault-weapons-ban-package-of-criminal-justice-and-energy-bills\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">signed<\/a> into law legislation banning many semi-automatic firearms and standard-capacity magazines.<\/p>\n<p>The new law, effective July 1, \u201ccriminalizes the purchase, sale, transfer, manufacture, and\u00a0importation of a wide range of commonly owned semiautomatic handguns, shotguns, and rifles \u2014 including the AR-15, the most popular rifle in America,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nraila.org\/articles\/20260514\/nra-files-federal-lawsuit-challenging-virginia-s-assault-firearm-and-magazine-bans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> the National Rifle Association (NRA), one of the plaintiffs suing Virginia. It also \u201cprohibits the purchase, barter, transfer, and importation\u201d of any magazine that holds more than 15 rounds, the organization noted.<\/p>\n<p>Democrat state Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim, a politician from Bangladesh who is a driving force behind efforts to strip constitutional rights away from Americans, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SalimForVA\/status\/2055094232663105707?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">authored<\/a> the bill.<\/p>\n<p>The NRA, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and two NRA members <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nraila.org\/articles\/20260514\/nra-files-federal-lawsuit-challenging-virginia-s-assault-firearm-and-magazine-bans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed<\/a> a <a href=\"https:\/\/saf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/McDonald-v.-Katz-complaint.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> in federal court challenging the law; the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) and Gun Owners of America (GOA) <a href=\"https:\/\/app.associationsphere.com\/Template\/PreviewInBrowser?prm=vUNnuCyPkYOO4dLnpnWTr5u4BA4fi72SjHE-SciVu-BqeEyWJH2V1GXuz9Jq0DrywIAMBi0iFtPQCbLWAkEDK09297RvoUE0whC5yMP1-fnU2ibbbbrbOj28gXHPB6D-WQjbjaDu-FKOl45EKqILdpIK-5qvN9G32NNKyapIQZjy5__aOhujKAgpA5Z89z5x0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed<\/a> a <a href=\"https:\/\/irp.cdn-website.com\/e9819c27\/files\/uploaded\/AWB+Lawsuit+as+filed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> in a Virginia county court; multiple firearm retailers, gun ranges, and other organizations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nraila.org\/articles\/20260514\/nra-announces-state-lawsuit-challenging-virginia-s-assault-firearm-and-magazine-bans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed<\/a> a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courthousenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/santolla-v-katz.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> in state court, and U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AAGDhillon\/status\/2055099927659790555?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">promised<\/a> the Department of Justice would file one as well.<\/p>\n<p>All lawsuits name Jeffrey S. Katz, superintendent of the Virginia State Police, as the defendant. The NRA lawsuit also names Goochland County Commonwealth Attorney John L. Lumpkins Jr. and Sheriff Steven Creasey, along with Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth and Sheriff Glendell Hill. Justin McDonald and Anthony Groeneveld, plaintiffs in the NRA suit, are residents of Goochland and Prince William, respectively, and are also members of the NRA, FPC, and SAF.<\/p>\n<p>The NRA lawsuit appeals to U.S. Supreme Court precedent in both <em>New York State Rifle &#038; Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen<\/em> and <em>District of Columbia v. Heller<\/em> (as applied to the states through <em>McDonald v. City of Chicago<\/em>) to argue the gun and magazine bans are unconstitutional. \u201cBy prohibiting Plaintiffs from acquiring common semiautomatic firearms and ammunition magazines,\u201d the suit argues, \u201cVirginia has prevented them from \u2018keeping and bearing Arms\u2019 within the meaning of the Amendment\u2019s text. As a result, \u2018[t]o justify its regulation, the government \u2026 must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with this Nation\u2019s historical tradition of firearm regulation.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Because ownership of the kinds of firearms and magazines banned by the new bill is widespread in Virginia, the new legislation necessarily cannot meet the standards set by historical practice, which, Justice Samuel Alito wrote, requires that the banned weapon be \u201cboth dangerous <em>and<\/em> unusual,\u201d according to the lawsuit (emphasis original).<\/p>\n<p>John Commerford, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) executive director, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nraila.org\/articles\/20260514\/nra-files-federal-lawsuit-challenging-virginia-s-assault-firearm-and-magazine-bans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> his team had been at the capital in Richmond fighting against the legislation as it was being written, but that the bait-and-switch \u201cmoderate\u201d Democrats pursued the ban anyway.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe made it clear that this <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >extreme anti-gun proposal<\/a>, 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\u00a0to landmark Supreme Court cases,\u201d Commerford said. \u201cInstead of listening to these factual concerns from\u00a0their constituents, progressive politicians sided with Michael Bloomberg and his gun-grabbing\u00a0groups.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It remains to be seen whether lower courts will follow the precedents set in <em>Heller<\/em> and <em>Bruen<\/em> or, if they do not, whether the U.S. Supreme Court will finally have the fortitude to take another Second Amendment case after years of lower courts waging war on their decisions protecting those rights.<\/p>\n<p>As The Federalist <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/03\/20\/scotus-refusal-to-rein-in-rogue-lower-courts-has-become-a-disturbing-pattern\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>, lower courts have simply refused to take Second Amendment jurisprudence seriously, to the point where they consistently defy Supreme Court rulings \u2014 and the high court refuses to step in to rein them in or reaffirm its precedent.<\/p>\n<p>As Thomas wrote in a 2018 dissent, \u201cOur continued refusal to hear Second Amendment cases only enables this kind of defiance. We have not heard argument in a Second Amendment case for nearly eight years. \u2026 If this case involved one of the Court\u2019s more favored rights, I sincerely doubt we would have denied certiorari.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe right to keep and bear arms is apparently this Court\u2019s constitutional orphan. And the lower courts seem to have gotten the message,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>When another opportunity came up in 2025 with challenges to an AR-15 ban in Maryland and a magazine limit in Rhode Island, the court again <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/06\/02\/scotus-rejects-second-amendment-challenges-to-maryland-ar-15-ban-rhode-island-magazine-cap\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">refused to take the case<\/a>. Only Thomas, Alito, and Justice Neil Gorsuch said they would have taken the case.<\/p>\n<p>With semi-automatic gun bans and magazine caps popping up in more states, it will likely fall to <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/01\/27\/scotus-holds-the-key-to-stopping-virginia-democrats-gun-control-gambit-will-they-use-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the high court<\/a> to stop the multiple-state assault on Second Amendment rights. In Virginia, one of the state cases could be the key to stopping the legislation. <\/p>\n<p>As the VCDL suit notes, the Virginia Constitution has said \u201c[t]hat a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state\u201d since 1776, and a 1971 amendment further clarified that \u201cthe right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVirginians understood their 1971 amendments to Article I, Section 13 to codify no new rights, but rather simply to ensure, at minimum, interpretive parity with the federal Second Amendment,\u201d the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n<p>The VCDL suit references federal Second Amendment jurisprudence as instructive on Virginia constitutional rights, and notes some recent state cases in which U.S. Supreme Court opinions were cited.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. As an investigative journalist, he previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Second Amendment groups sue Virginia police over a July 1 law banning many semiautomatic firearms and high-capacity magazines, including AR-15<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2603330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-15-162919.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[56499,7976,32209,32249,5468],"class_list":["post-2603329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-gun-policy","tag-lawsuits","tag-second-amendment","tag-spanberger","tag-virginia"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-15-162919.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2603329"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2603333,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603329\/revisions\/2603333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2603330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2603329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2603329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2603329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}