{"id":2607979,"date":"2026-05-28T16:55:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/under-spanberger-illegal-aliens-face-less-scrutiny-than-law-abiding-virginians-buying-guns\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T16:58:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:58:06","slug":"under-spanberger-illegal-aliens-face-less-scrutiny-than-law-abiding-virginians-buying-guns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/under-spanberger-illegal-aliens-face-less-scrutiny-than-law-abiding-virginians-buying-guns\/","title":{"rendered":"Illegal Aliens Face Less Scrutiny Than Virginians Buying Guns"},"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\">18<\/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%2Funder-spanberger-illegal-aliens-face-less-scrutiny-than-law-abiding-virginians-buying-guns%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=2607979&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>Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger has ordered the Virginia State Police to resume background checks for private gun sales, a demand some gun-rights advocates say contradicts an October 2025 court order that previously halted the requirement. Philip Van Cleave of the Virginia Citizens Defense League claims his group and others are preparing a contempt motion against state officials.<\/p>\n<p>Critics also argue spanberger\u2019s stance creates a two-part approach: enforcing extra scrutiny on law-abiding gun buyers while limiting cooperation between state and federal authorities on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-endorses-in-very-important-wi-supreme-court-election\/\" title=\"Trump Endorses In &#039;Very Important&#039; WI Supreme ... Election\">deporting violent illegal immigrants<\/a>. They point to Spanberger actions reversing arrangements to help ICE and ending 287(g) agreements, and they cite comments from former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares questioning why police can be barred from alerting federal authorities while still being required to run gun checks.<\/p>\n<p>The background-check requirement is tied to a Virginia bill passed by the General Assembly that increased the firearm purchase age from 18 to 21 and reinstated universal background checks, including an emergency clause meant to take effect immediately. The article notes confusion because state police guidance had reportedly indicated private-sale background checks were not available for more then a month, before later changing again. The Spanberger management later confirmed to Virginia Scope that the checks would resume.  <\/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>Gov. Abigail Spanberger is requiring the Virginia State Police to resume conducting background checks on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-sheriffs-tell-newsom-they-wont-enforce-covid-curfew\/\" title=\"California Sheriffs Tell Newsom They Won&#039;t Enforce COVID Curfew\">law-abiding citizens<\/a> who want to buy a gun while also blocking the police from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-administration-cannot-ignore-federal-law-must-remove-illegal-alien-criminals-court\/\" title=\"Biden Administration Cannot Ignore Federal Law, Must Remove Illegal Alien Criminals: ...\">remove illegal aliens convicted<\/a> of violent crimes.<\/p>\n<p>Spanberger\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.virginiascope.com\/virginia-state-police-to-start-background-checks-on-private-gun-sales-again\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">move to resume the checks<\/a> for private gun sales is in direct contravention of an October <a href=\"https:\/\/irp.cdn-website.com\/e9819c27\/files\/uploaded\/Wilson+v+Col+Hanley.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">court order<\/a> halting the practice, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/VCDL_ORG\/status\/2059815646125519159?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a> to Philip Van Cleave, founder of gun rights group Virginia Citizens Defense League. Van Cleave added that his group and Gun Owners of America are filing a motion for contempt of court.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet me get this straight. The Virginia State Police are being ordered to check the status of law abiding Virginians who are trying to exercise their 2nd\u00a0amendment right to buy a firearm, but at the same time they are barred, by Governor Spanberger\u2019s EO1, from <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >alerting federal law enforcement agencies<\/a> when an illegal immigrant who has been convicted of a violent crime against a Virginian is being released from a Virginia state prison?\u201d former Attorney General Jason Miyares, R-Va., <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JasonMiyaresVA\/status\/2060026235154022540?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> on social media.<\/p>\n<p>Forcing the state police to conduct background checks comes after the Virginia General Assembly passed a <a href=\"https:\/\/cardinalnews.org\/2026\/05\/26\/background-checks-for-private-firearm-sales-not-happening-one-month-after-bills-emergency-enactment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bill<\/a> increasing the legal age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21. That bill included an emergency enactment clause, which requires immediate implementation of the bill rather than waiting for the standard statutory effective date, typically July 1.<\/p>\n<p>The bill also reestablished universal background checks for all firearms sales and seemed to be pointed directly at challenging the October 2025 court order.<\/p>\n<p>While the state is now overburdening Virginians who conduct private sales of guns \u2014 which often means family-to-family gun sales \u2014 with background checks, one of the first executive orders Spanberger signed after being sworn in is <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/01\/22\/virginia-dems-treat-criminals-like-constituents-and-constituents-like-criminals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">protecting violent illegal aliens<\/a> from being arrested and deported.<\/p>\n<p>Executive Order 10 reversed an order from former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R-Va., that required state and local law enforcement to work with ICE to get violent illegal aliens off the streets. Additionally, Spanberger\u2019s Executive Directive 1 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.governor.virginia.gov\/media\/governorvirginiagov\/governor-of-virginia\/pdf\/ed\/ED-1-Directing-the-Commonwealth%E2%80%99s-Law-Enforcement-Agencies-to-Terminate-Any-and-All-Section-287(g)-Agreements.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ordered<\/a> state law enforcement agencies to end all 287(g) agreements and \u201crelated memoranda of understanding\u201d with ICE. Some <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/15\/worst-prosecutor-in-america-struggles-to-explain-why-democrats-keep-protecting-illegal-alien-murderers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">estimate<\/a> that illegal aliens or persons who live with illegal aliens make up 20 percent of the population of Fairfax County, the commonwealth\u2019s most populous county.<\/p>\n<p>The dichotomy between forcing background checks on law-abiding citizens and letting illegals run free is another <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/01\/22\/virginia-dems-treat-criminals-like-constituents-and-constituents-like-criminals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">example<\/a> of Spanberger and other Democrats choosing illegals and criminals over everyday Virginians.<\/p>\n<p>The state police fell in line with the gun legislation within the past few days. At least as of May 21, the Virginia State Police <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20260521180048\/https:\/\/vsp.virginia.gov\/services\/firearms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">website<\/a> stated that \u201cPrivate Sale Background Checks No Longer Available \/ Required,\u201d noting it was in compliance with the court order. That was over a month after the bill was enacted. However, that portion of the website is <a href=\"https:\/\/vsp.virginia.gov\/services\/firearms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">now gone<\/a>, and the site notes that \u201cPrivate Sale background checks are now available.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The change appears to have been spurred on by a Cardinal News article pointing out that the legislation was not being implemented for more than a month. Democrat Del. Garrett McGuire claimed that \u201clives are on the line right now\u201d because of the lack of private-sale background checks and said he was working with the Spanberger administration to make sure checks are happening.<\/p>\n<p>As of Wednesday, the Spanberger administration confirmed to the Virginia Scope that the checks would resume.<\/p>\n<p>Spanberger has signed other anti-Second Amendment legislation, like a bill banning the sale of so-called \u201cassault\u201d weapons and standard-capacity magazines. That bill was introduced by Democrat state Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim, a politician from Bangladesh. As The Federalist <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/15\/lawsuits-challenging-spanbergers-virginia-assault-firearms-gun-grab-pour-in\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>, upon Spanberger\u2019s signature, numerous lawsuits started pouring in to overturn the law.<\/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>Gov. Spanberger orders resuming gun-sale background checks while limiting ICE access to violent offenders<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2607980,"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-2026-05-28-145347.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38845,50385,3813,32779],"class_list":["post-2607979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-civil-liberties","tag-gun-control-2","tag-immigration","tag-legal-issues"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-28-145347.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607979","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=2607979"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2607983,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607979\/revisions\/2607983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2607980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2607979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2607979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2607979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}