Two Judges Just Saved Law-Abiding Virginians From Spanberger’s Biggest Mistake at Least for Now

Abigail Spanberger promised to take your guns, and she signed the law to prove it.

Two judges just told her she can't, and her own deadline arrived anyway.

What happened to her signature law next will have every gun owner in Virginia breathing easier at least in the short term.

Two Courts, Same Verdict, One Broken Law

The ban was supposed to kick in on July 1.

Instead, a Lancaster County judge and a Washington County judge both ruled that Spanberger's gun ban almost certainly violates the Second Amendment.

The Lancaster ruling came in Crump v. Katz, brought by Gun Owners of America and the Virginia Citizens Defense League.

The Washington County ruling came from Judge Campbell, who found that the ban and magazine limit likely clash with Second Amendment protections the Supreme Court laid out in Heller and Bruen.

Both injunctions block the same three things – the sales ban, the 15-round magazine limit, and the new public carry restriction.

The Lancaster order runs through the end of the year.

The Washington County order runs all the way to July 1, 2027.

NRA-ILA Executive Director John Commerford said his organization's lawyers "delivered a clear, powerful argument" against what he called Spanberger's gun ban.

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones is vowing to appeal both rulings.

Jones says the ban will save lives and insists his office will keep defending it in court.

Fair enough – but two courts already ruled his own law is probably unconstitutional.

Her Own Sheriffs Are Refusing To Enforce It

Spanberger did not just lose in court.

She lost in her own backyard.

At least 17 Virginia commonwealth's attorneys and a dozen sheriffs have publicly said they will not enforce either ban.

Spotsylvania County Commonwealth's Attorney Ryan Mehaffey wrote that the law is "undoubtedly inconsistent" with the Second Amendment and cited both Heller and Bruen by name.

Campbell County Sheriff Whit Clark called the whole thing "nothing more than a gun grab."

Facing a rebellion from her own law enforcement and two adverse rulings, Spanberger had to ask the General Assembly to delay the carry ban's effective date by a full year.

Lawmakers approved that delay Monday as part of a budget deal, pushing the carry restriction to 2027.

House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore did not let the moment pass quietly.

Kilgore said the governor's own revisions to the bill made clear she was "coming for our firearms."

The Bruen Wall Is Still Standing

This is not a fluke, and it is not the first blue-state gun ban to hit this wall.

Since the Supreme Court's 2022 Bruen decision, federal and state courts have struck down assault-style weapon bans in California and Illinois using the same "in common use" test now working against Spanberger.

Bruen requires the government to show a new gun law lines up with centuries of American firearms regulation, not just that a politician thinks it sounds safer.

Spanberger's own opponents in Washington saw this coming months earlier, when a top Justice Department civil rights official warned Virginia in writing that the ban would trigger federal litigation the moment it took effect.

That warning turned out to be exactly right.

Spanberger campaigned as a moderate former CIA officer, and Virginians handed her a governorship on that promise.

What she delivered instead was the first Southern state assault-style ban in American history, followed almost immediately by seventeen prosecutors refusing to enforce it and two judges cutting the whole thing off at the knees.

Virginia's legislature is up for grabs in 2027, and this fight is not going away.

If you own an AR-15 in Virginia tonight, it is still yours, and two judges just made sure Spanberger cannot change that anytime soon.

That is not a policy footnote.

That is a governor's gun grab getting stopped cold, at least until the appeals are decided.

Sources:

• Harold Hutchison, "Abigail Spanberger's Plan To Ban Guns Blows Up In Her Face," The Daily Caller, June 30, 2026.
• Fox News staff, "Spanberger Signs Virginia Assault Firearms Ban As DOJ Threatens Lawsuit," Fox News, April 15, 2026.
• Ben Smith, "Spanberger Signed The Gun Ban, But Virginia Prosecutors Say It Can't Be Enforced," RedState, June 3, 2026.
• American Spectator staff, "Virginia Republicans Slam Spanberger's Gun Ban, Pledge To Repeal It," The American Spectator, May 15, 2026.
• Washington Examiner staff, "Judge Blocks Virginia Assault Weapons Ban Days Before It Takes Effect," Washington Examiner, June 25, 2026.
• WSET staff, "Virginia Sheriffs Raise Concerns Over Assault-Style Gun Ban Governor Abigail Spanberger Signed Into Law," WSET, May 22, 2026.