| WASHINGTON, D.C. — Plaintiffs challenging Virginia’s ban on the sale of Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) and standard-capacity magazines filed an emergency motion for a preliminary injunction to block the Commonwealth from enforcing its unconstitutional law. The motion and the challenge to the law, funded by NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, were filed with Virginia’s Circuit Court of Fauquier County.
Plaintiffs in the challenge, including Erick Black, Britton Condon, Clark’s Gun Shop, Optimus Arms, LLC and Hexmag USA, LLC, allege that Virginia’s law violates both the U.S. and Virginia Constitutions. The plaintiffs further requested a hearing on the motion for injunction by June 19, 2026, before the effective date of July 1, 2026, when Virginia’s ban on the sale of the most popular-selling centerfire rifle in America will be enforced.
“This law is unconstitutional and allowing it to be enforced would rob law-abiding citizens of Virginia of their rights protected by both the Virginia’s Constitution and the U.S. Constitution,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “Governor Abigail Spanberger admitted in her statement when she signed the law that she knew it banned popular hunting guns. Allowing this law to be enforced while it is being challenged in court would cause irreparable harm to law-abiding Virginians who seek to exercise the full spectrum of their civil liberties.”
The emergency motion details that plaintiffs — including a former Green Beret, a decorated clay shooter, a firearm retailer, a firearm manufacturer and magazine manufacturer — would suffer irreparable harm to the free exercise of their Second Amendment rights and livelihoods. The motion argues that the U.S. Supreme Court, in Heller, previously held that bans of firearms in common use violate the Second Amendment. There are over 32 million MSRs in circulation in America today and conservatively estimated nearly 1 billion detachable magazines in private possession and hundreds of millions with capacity exceeding 15 rounds.
Additionally, Virginia’s law fails the Supreme Court’s Bruen test, as there is no historical tradition for bans on entire classes of firearms when the Second Amendment was adopted in 1791. In fact, the motion details that Virginia’s first settlers in Jamestown, nearly to a man, were armed with firearms.
Virginia’s law banning the sale of MSRs and standard-capacity magazines sweeps up all manner of common semiautomatic rifles, pistols and shotguns. It includes any semiautomatic rifle that can accept a detachable magazine and one or more prohibited cosmetic characteristics that have no bearing on the function of the firearm. Many of those features add to the safe-handling and accuracy of the firearm.
The law also sweeps in semiautomatic pistols with two or more prohibited characteristics, many of which are designed for increased safety and accessibility for individuals with physical limitations. Likewise, the law includes certain semiautomatic shotguns, which are ubiquitous among hunters and youth hunters.
Violations of Virginia’s sweeping bans will be a Class I misdemeanor offense that carries a sentence of one year of imprisonment and a $2,500 fine. This is not an insignificant infraction. |
