Judge halts enforcement of Virginia's assault weapons ban statewide

A Washington County judge issued an order Tuesday night halting enforcement of Virginia’s assault weapons ban statewide.

The order is the latest in complaint filed in the South West corner of the state on behalf of individual gun owners and gun shop owners against the Virginia State Police superintendent and a patchwork of Commonwealth’s Attorneys across Virginia – including Washington County, Chesterfield County, York County, Frederick County, Giles County, and Chesapeake.

Last week, the judge presiding over the case, Jeffrey Campbell, wrote in an opinion that its nine plaintiffs were likely to prevail in arguing that the General Assembly’s prohibition on the purchase and sale of semi-automatic rifles, shot guns and pistols violates their Constitutional rights in the state’s Constitution.

But Campbell’s decision to grant the stay on enforcing the assault weapons ban until the court could decide whether the ban can lawfully proceed applied only to the parties named in the lawsuit – commonwealth’s attorneys in the six localities, as well as the Virginia State Police.

Campbell’s ruling from Tuesday night amends his original order and expands it statewide, prohibiting all law enforcement in Virginia from enforcing the assault weapons ban by arguing that limiting his injunction to six localities doesn’t do enough to protect the plaintiffs from having their right to bear arms infringed upon.

A plaintiff can freely transport an AR-15 inside Washington County where the ban’s enforcement is enjoined, Campbell wrote, but if they were to cross the county line into Grayson County they would be violating the law.

Expanding his ruling statewide, he wrote, was necessary to sufficiently protect individual gun owners and gun shop owners from a ban that is possibly unconstitutional.

“Judge Campbell’s statewide declaration is wrong, reaches far beyond the case before him, and is unsupported by Virginia precedent” said Attorney General Jay Jones in a statement.

Jones wrote that a Circuit Court injunction must stay within proper legal limits and cannot apply to people, or parties, who are not a part of the lawsuit.

His office “will continue defending Virgnia’s assault weapons ban and remains confident the law will be upheld,” he wrote. “We remain steadfast in our mission to support law enforcement and keep Virginians safe.”

Campbell wrote it is “traditionally disfavored” to enforce injunctions against parties that aren’t named in a complaint because they aren’t involved in the litigation. In his opinion Campbell cited Virginia’s law granting Circuit Court judges the ability to issue temporary stays on matters of statewide relevance.

Campbell’s ruling will not go into effect until July 21, in time for law enforcement agencies, including top prosecutors, across the state to be notified.

The state’s new ban of assault weapons, effective July 1, prohibits the purchase, manufacture or transport of commonly used semi-automatic firearms and ammunition magazines that hold more than fifteen rounds. If found violating the law, a person can be charged with a Class I misdemeanor, carrying up to 12 months in prison and/or a $2,500 fine.

The ban doesn’t apply to people who already own firearms defined in the ban as assault weapons – including AR 15s rifles and pistols, Glock 17s, and AK 47s.

Before its effective date, the law faced several court challenges blocking its enforcement.

State Senator Bill Stanley, a Republican representing a swath of Southside, Virginia, west of Danville, said he was approached by a group of individual gun owners and retailers, as well as the Virginia Shooting Sports Organization, who asked him to represent them in the Washington County case.

“This is a battle not just about your Second Amendment rights, it’s about all of your rights,” Stanley said Wednesday morning. “If it’s the Second Amendment this time, it will be other rights next time.”

In the complaint, Stanley cited two federal cases – District of Columbia v. Heller and New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, that he said established an individual’s right to purchase and keep firearms, especially those popularly used.

A farmer uses a forward grip to steady his rifle before he fires a shot at a turkey, Stanley said, and sport shooters use guns with a threaded barrel and a silencer attached to save their hearing.

Defined as banned assault weapons in the new law, “they’re not sinister,” he said. “We’re not keeping firearms out of the hands of people with harmful intentions, we end up punishing good people.”

Aside from the complaint filed in Washington County, individual gun owners and retailers asked judges in Lancaster, Fauquier and Spotsylvania counties to halt the ban’s enforcement arguing that it infringed on Virginians constitutional rights.

In response to a complaint brought by gun rights advocate John Crump, Gun Owners of America and the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a Lancaster County judge halted the ability of the only named party, the Virginia State Police, from enforcing the assault weapons ban.

The Attorney General’s office has appealed that judge’s decision to the Virginia Supreme Court, which has yet to decide on whether they will allow the temporary injunction to proceed.

The ruling, Jones said at the time, “is disappointing and puts our communities at risk.”

“Gun violence is the key driver of violent crime,” he wrote, and “assault weapons are designed intentionally to inflict maximum damage in a matter of seconds.”

The attorney for individual gun owners and retailers in a Spotsylvania County case argued the ban’s enforcement would infringe on the Virginia Constitution’s militia clause, allowing citizens to acquire the weapons necessary to be a part of “an unorganized militia.” The judge in that case denied the plaintiffs request for a stay on the ban’s enforcement as the litigation proceeds over the next several months.

A judge in Fauquier County, in response to a complaint filed by gun owners and retailers there, delayed their decision until a three judge panel in Charlottesville, appointed by the Supreme Court, decided whether or not to consolidate the four cases across the Commonwealth into one case housed in the state’s highest court.

The request was made by Attorney General Jay Jones, who argued the four cases raised similar challenges to the state’s weapons ban and could be consolidated.

On Monday, that panel denied Jones’ request and ruled the four cases each raise issues with individual merits against the weapons ban.

Last week, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Virginia against Virginia and Virginia State Police, arguing the new law violates the U.S. Constitution, and leading many to speculate that the U.S. Supreme Court will take the case this Fall.

What’s next for the Washington County case? “It’s only the first step in what is a journey,” Stanley said. He expects Judge Campbell’s decision Tuesday will be appealed to the state Supreme Court, after which argument on the question of whether the ban on assault weapons will be permanently halted will begin.

Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League since 2001 and party to the case in Lancaster County, said its members are elated at the judge’s decision.

With the injunction in place, “life will go back to normal before a final ruling on this,” he said. After July 21, he expects gun shop owners can go back to selling AR 15s – one of the market’s most popular firearms, and gun owners can purchase “whatever capacity magazine they want.”

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