Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, and John Crump, filed suit May 15, 2026, seeking “temporary and then permanent injunctions” blocking the enforcement of Virginia’s “assault weapons” ban.
Other plaintiffs are the Virginia Citizens Defense League and the Virginia Citizens Defense Foundation.
Breitbart News reported that Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) signed the ban into law on May 14, 2026.
GOA & the other plaintiffs filed their case in the Circuit Court for the County of Lancaster and are trying to secure an injunction to block enforcement of the ban as cases against it are adjudicated.
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GOA’s senior vice president Erich Pratt spoke to Breitbart News about the effort, saying, “Gov. Spanberger is targeting the constitutional rights of ordinary Virginians with a ban that criminalizes some of the most popular firearms and magazines owned by law-abiding Americans. This measure will burden peaceable citizens while leaving violent criminals untouched.”
He continued, “Based on our successful victory last year striking down Virginia’s Universal Registration Check law, we are confident that state courts offer the strongest path to overturning this unconstitutional measure—and that is exactly why we are taking this fight to state court.”
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.
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