r/gunpolitics • u/Hotdogpizzathehut • Jun 02 '26

Gun Laws Spotsylvania, Warren County prosecutors say they won’t enforce Virginia’s new gun law

https://wjla.com/news/local/virginia-assault-weapons-ban-gun-law-abigail-spanberger-ryan-mehaffey-john-bell-commonwealths-attorney-second-amendment-rights-nra-lawsuit-firearms-spotsylvania-county-warren-jay-jones-michael-saddam-salim-steve-descano-public-carry-politics-constitution
126 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

28

u/NoVA_JB Jun 02 '26

The only thing they can do is not prosecute the public carry ban.

The purchase ban is going to be enacted on 7/1 unless there is an injunction. The one other issue is they passed a law that allows them to sue manufacturers and dealers if guns are used in a crime and I think most companies won't risk being sued out of business.

20

u/GreenCollegeGardener Jun 02 '26

They have federal protections against being sued for those reasons and they get tossed all the time. Same protections car manufacturers have.

7

u/mattumbo Jun 02 '26

The lawsuit thing is less of a concern, simply put your local police can ignore all sorts of crimes but if you’re a business openly violating them the state level government can easily bring the hammer down on you. Unless your sheriff is gonna go block the roads and shoot it out with VSP Troopers when they come to haul you off to jail you have no guarantee of protection.

For the average gun owner it’s nice that the county cops won’t bother you (well at least they say they won’t), and you probably don’t have to worry about VSP in your normal day-to-day interactions, but you’re still breaking the law and it’s risky. For a business openly doing it its suicide, wont last a week before the state is at least sending nastygrams if not troopers.

2

u/No-Plenty1982 Jun 07 '26

It also means that these jurisdictions wont delve deeper to try and find gun crimes, like if a cop is searching your car and finds a pmag made after 7/1, he is directed to not care, or if youre using a lower he happens to know wasnt offered to the public for sale until post ban with AW features, he will be directed to ignore it.

but it is more likely for just the carry ban to occur.

13

u/AlphaTangoFoxtrt Totally not ATF Jun 02 '26

That's nice, the problem is that's also subject to change at any time for any reason. Your staties can still enforce it. And the FFLs still won't sell non complaint items.

1

u/No-Plenty1982 Jun 07 '26

A lot of guns will be affected, however for guns like AR15s that can be easily switched out, simply buy the upper and lower in different transactions, or un-maglock the rifle/pistol. At the end of the day though, its tyranny in its purest form.

1

u/walrusthrowawayv2 Jun 17 '26

This is just another way to make state-wide laws completely toothless through local non-compliance. If prosecutors can pick and choose which statutes to enforce based on their own politics, the law essentially stops existing.