{"id":2622332,"date":"2026-07-01T16:41:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T20:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-sues-virginia-over-assault-firearms-ban\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T16:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T20:45:09","slug":"doj-sues-virginia-over-assault-firearms-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-sues-virginia-over-assault-firearms-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ Sues Virginia Over &#8216;Assault Firearms&#8217; Ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/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%2Fdoj-sues-virginia-over-assault-firearms-ban%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=2622332&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>The U.S. department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Virginia over its new \u201cassault firearms\u201d ban, which was set to take effect on July 1. The law, signed by Governor Abigail Spanberger, criminalizes importing, selling, manufacturing, purchasing, or transferring certain semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15, and creates a misdemeanor for thes actions. The DOJS case claims that the law violates the Second Amendment, arguing that such firearms are protected because they are commonly used and historically in use during the time the Second Amendment was enacted. The lawsuit emphasizes that the term \u201cassault firearms\u201d is politically charged and that the law bans weapons that law-abiding citizens widely possess. Several legal actions have already succeeded in blocking aspects of the law through injunctions, and numerous state and local officials oppose enforcement, stating the law is unconstitutional. The case references recent Supreme Court precedent requiring firearm regulations to be consistent with historic tradition and notes that many officials and organizations continue to challenge the law.  <\/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>The U.S. Department of Justice is taking Virginia to court over its so-called \u201cassault firearms\u201d ban, filing a lawsuit just hours after it had been slated to take effect on July 1.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., signed a law that creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for importing, selling, manufacturing, purchasing, or transferring the firearms, which include standard, semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15-style rifle, the country\u2019s most popular firearm.<\/p>\n<p>Attorney General Todd Blanche\u2019s office filed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courthousenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/us-v-virginia-awb-complaint.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> Wednesday morning saying the law violates the Second Amendment. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Constitution is not a suggestion, and the Second Amendment is not a second-class right,\u201d Blanche said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/justice-department-sues-commonwealth-virginia-unconstitutional-weapons-bans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">press release<\/a>. \u201cThis Justice Department has done more to protect the Second Amendment than any administration in our nation\u2019s history, and we will continue to do so whenever necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit, filed in a Richmond federal court, does not address the standard-capacity magazine ban, limiting magazines to no more than 15 rounds. The normal amount for an AR-15 is 30 rounds.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Justice argues that the ban violates U.S. Supreme Court precedent set in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/21pdf\/20-843_7j80.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NYSRPA v. Bruen<\/a><\/em>, which requires that any firearm regulation meet a two-pronged test to be considered constitutional: If the plain text of the Second Amendment protects the citizen\u2019s conduct, a regulation is presumably unconstitutional; and, a regulation can only be considered constitutional if it is \u201cconsistent with this Nation\u2019s historical tradition of firearm regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since the historical record shows that citizens were able to keep firearms commonly in use at the time, and the AR-15s and other similar guns are some of the most commonly used today, they are almost always protected firearms, the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no historical tradition of banning arms in common use. Therefore, the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding Americans to possess and use weapons that are in common use for lawful purposes,\u201d the lawsuit says. \u201cThe statute bans the purchase and sale of AR-15 style rifles. As set forth in this section, Americans own and use for lawful purposes tens of millions of AR-15 style rifles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The DOJ\u2019s suit also makes clear that \u201ccommon sense dictates that the right to bear arms requires a right to acquire arms, just as the right to free press necessarily includes the right to acquire a printing press, or the right to freely practice religion necessarily rests on a right to acquire a sacred text,\u201d citing a 2025 case out of the 10th Circuit.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit notes that even the law, by using the term \u201cassault firearms,\u201d is deploying \u201ca <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-files-lawsuit-against-virginia-over-assault-weapon-ban\/\" title=\"DOJ files ...suit against ... over &#039;assault weapon&#039; ban\">rhetorically charged political term developed<\/a> by anti-gun publicists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Prior to 1989, the term assault weapon did not exist in the lexicon of firearms. It is a political term, developed by anti-gun publicists to expand the category of assault rifles so as to allow an attack on as many additional firearms as possible on the basis of undefined evil appearance,\u2019\u201d the lawsuit adds, quoting a 1997 law review article. \u201cIn the real world (as opposed to the fevered imaginations of some politicians), the rifles that the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >statute calls \u2018assault firearms\u2019 include ordinary semiautomatic rifles lawfully possessed<\/a> and used by millions of law-abiding Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The action comes several weeks after Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/15\/lawsuits-challenging-spanbergers-virginia-assault-firearms-gun-grab-pour-in\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">threatened<\/a> a lawsuit. In the press release, Dhillon said, \u201cI keep my promises,\u201d adding, \u201cLaw-abiding Americans should not have to live under threat of criminal sanction for simply exercising their Second Amendment right to possess arms owned by millions of their fellow citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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>, there are numerous other lawsuits at the federal and state level that have come in to challenge both the \u201cassault firearms\u201d ban and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/appeals-court-rules-d-c-s-gun-magazine-restriction-is-unconstitutional\/\" title=\"...: D.C.&#039;s ... Magazine Restriction Is Unconstitutional\">magazine capacity ban<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, a lawsuit filed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nraila.org\/articles\/20260629\/nra-secures-statewide-preliminary-injunction-against-virginia-assault-firearm-and-magazine-bans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">achieved<\/a> a statewide preliminary injunction on the gun and magazine bans in a state court in Washington County. <\/p>\n<p>Another <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/VCDL_ORG\/status\/2070217663087882263?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">injunction<\/a> against the enforcement of the bans was <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/VCDL_ORG\/status\/2070246457756524588?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">granted<\/a> last week in Lancaster County as well.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, numerous Commonwealth Attorneys and county sheriffs have come out in defiance of the Spanberger government, saying they will not enforce or prosecute anyone under the new law.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI am of the opinion that these laws are unconstitutional and cannot be enforced,\u201d Page County Commonwealth\u2019s Attorney Chapman L. Good Sr. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/1EiqrQ1ua1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a> in a letter to Sheriff Chadwick Cubbage, explaining he will not be prosecuting under the bans. \u201cThe Second Amendment guarantees our [G]od given right to self-defense by ensuring that the right \u2018to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.\u2019 That Amendment also makes clear that a militia is \u2018necessary to the security of a free State.&#8217;\u201d<\/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>Justice Dept sues Virginia over \u201cassault firearms\u201d ban<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2622333,"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\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-01-151036.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[9473,4901,4585,4762,5468],"class_list":["post-2622332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-firearms","tag-justice","tag-lawsuit","tag-legislation","tag-virginia"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-01-151036.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622332","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=2622332"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2622337,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622332\/revisions\/2622337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2622333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2622332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2622332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2622332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}