Immediate Response: NRA, SAF Sue Over Virginia ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban

On Thursday, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) signed an “assault weapons” ban legislation into law and the NRA and Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) immediately filed a lawsuit.

Other plaintiffs with the NRA and SAF include private citizens Justin McDonald and Anthony Groeneveld, as well as the Firearms Policy Coalition.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Alexandria Division, begins:

The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms”… Under this constitutional provision, Plaintiffs, including McDonald and Groeneveld, and all other law-abiding Virginians have a fundamental, constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear common firearms for defense of self, family, and community, and for other lawful pursuits.

But the Commonwealth has enacted, and Defendants are charged with enforcing, a flat prohibition on the importation, manufacturing, sale, purchase, and transfer of many common firearms — tendentiously labeled “assault firearms” —  making it a crime for law-abiding citizens to exercise their fundamental right to keep and bear such arms.

Later in the complaint, plaintiffs contend that the semiautomatic firearms banned by Virginia Democrats are in “common use” and therefore protected by the Second Amendment per Heller (2008):

Semiautomatic firearms “traditionally have been widely accepted as lawful possessions,” see Staples v. United States… and they are in common use, see Heller v. District of Columbia… (“We think it clear enough in the record that semi-automatic rifles… are indeed in ‘common use,’ as the plaintiffs contend.”) Indeed, the Supreme Court recently, and unanimously, noted that “AR-15 rifles, AK-47 rifles, and .50 caliber sniper rifles… are both widely legal and bought by many ordinary consumers.” Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon made clear the DOJ would sue Virginia if Spanberger signed the “assault weapons” ban. We have the lawsuit from the NRA, SAF, FPC, and private citizens, and now await the suit from the DOJ.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. He is a lever action man in an AR-15 world. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.