By Dave Workman
Fresh on the heels of the Virginia House of Delegates’ decision to push back the effective date of the Commonwealth’s ban on so-called “assault firearms,” the Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit in an effort to block the law from ever taking effect.
The lawsuit targets SB749, alleging that it “infringes the right of law-abiding Virginians to purchase and sell AR-15 style rifles and therefore violates the Second Amendment.”
“Thus, Defendants have acted and will continue to act in blatant disregard of the constitutional rights of the citizens of Virginia,” the lawsuit says.
Named as defendants are the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Virginia State Police.
The lawsuit comes in the wake of two Supreme Court rulings which supported Second Amendment rights, and the high court’s announcement that it has granted certiorari to a pair of legal challenges to semi-auto bans in Cook County, Illinois and the state of Connecticut.
So far, it has been a very good week for gun rights, quipped Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA). The two cases picked for review by the Supreme Court are both SAF cases, adding to Gottlieb’s excitement.
According to WBDJ News, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger declared upon signing SB 749 and its companion bill HB217, “Studies also continue to show that assault weapons and large-capacity magazines are disproportionately used in mass shootings and the killings of law enforcement officers.”
And recent polling by Roanoke College revealed “nearly 60 percent of Virginians support restricting the future sale of assault weapons.”
However, as recently observed by Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett in her concurring opinion in Wolford v. Lopez, “a majority’s opposition to a constitutional right is not a permissible basis for restricting it.”
Spanberger and Virginia Democrats took some heat Tuesday from CCRKBA, which said they should reverse course on gun control in the Old Dominion and repeal the law, which is already being challenged by several civil lawsuits, prior to the DOJ’s action.
The DOJ’s 13-page civil complaint against Virginia, signed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and others, states, “When the law enforcement officers of the State Police enforce the Virginia statute that makes it a crime to buy and sell constitutionally protected arms, they are engaging in a pattern or practice of conduct by law enforcement officers…As set forth above, the Virginia statute that makes it a crime to buy and sell constitutionally protected arms violates the Second Amendment.”
As things currently stand, Spanberger and her allies appear to be painted into a corner.
