Virginia Judge Widens Gun Ban Injunction to Cover State Agencies Statewide

A Lancaster County judge has widened a court order blocking Virginia from enforcing its ban on commonly owned semiautomatic rifles and standard-capacity magazines, extending the injunction to cover the Commonwealth itself along with its agencies and employees. The ruling, handed down Monday, marks the latest turn in a legal fight that has kept the state’s restrictions on hold since the summer.

Lancaster County Circuit Court Judge John S. Martin entered the order in Crump v. Katz on Monday, partially granting the plaintiffs’ second motion to enlarge the preliminary injunction, according to AmmoLand. The order states that the Commonwealth of Virginia, its agencies and employees are now preliminarily enjoined subject to the same terms and duration as prior orders in the case, the outlet reported. Martin denied the plaintiffs’ motion in all other respects.

Importantly, the ruling does not create a new permanent injunction and does not finally strike down Virginia’s gun ban, the report notes. It simply extends the existing preliminary relief to a broader set of state actors while the underlying case continues.

What the Lawsuit Challenges

The case centers on Senate Bill 749, which Governor Abigail Spanberger signed into law in May. The legislation targets firearms the state classifies as assault firearms, including commonly owned semiautomatic rifles, and prohibits certain transactions involving magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds. The complaint, filed by John Crump along with Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, Virginia Citizens Defense League and Virginia Citizens Defense Foundation, names Virginia State Police Superintendent Colonel Jeffrey S. Katz as the defendant, according to the complaint hosted by the Cato Institute.

According to that filing, SB749 became law with the Governor’s signature on May 14 and carried an effective date of July 1. Virginia officials had intended to begin enforcing the restrictions that day, but the plaintiffs’ legal challenge got there first. The complaint also makes clear the plaintiffs are not pursuing a federal claim: they argue the restrictions violate Article I, Section 13 of the Virginia Constitution, which declares that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, and they explicitly do not bring any claim or seek relief under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

A Monthslong Back-and-Forth

Judge Martin first issued a preliminary injunction in June blocking enforcement of the challenged restrictions through December 31, 2026, or until further court action, per the same AmmoLand account. The plaintiffs later pushed to expand that order, and Martin held a hearing on their request on October 20 before issuing Monday’s partial grant.

The Commonwealth fought the expansion. Assistant Attorneys General Calvin C. Brown and Pebbles I. Burgess expressly objected to extending the injunction to the Commonwealth, its agencies and officials, the outlet’s report states. Their objection did not prevail on that point, though the order’s broader denial of the rest of the plaintiffs’ motion suggests the win was not total for either side. The ruling also does not expressly identify every local sheriff, police department or commonwealth’s attorney as a newly enjoined party, leaving some enforcement questions unresolved.

Other Virginia Cases and a Pending Supreme Court Showdown

This is not the only Virginia court fight over the law. State officials had earlier asked that four separate state-court challenges to the firearms restrictions be transferred to a single circuit court for coordinated pretrial proceedings, according to an application filed by Virginia officials in May. Separately, Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones has said a stay in the Crump case would align the state’s cases while the U.S. Supreme Court reviews challenges to assault-weapons bans elsewhere in the country, stating that the stay ensures Virginia’s cases move forward on solid, consistent footing, according to a release from the Virginia Attorney General’s Office.

That Supreme Court backdrop looms large. The justices are scheduled to hear arguments on December 2 in the consolidated cases Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins, which address whether bans on AR-15-style rifles and similar semiautomatic firearms violate the Second Amendment, AmmoLand reported. The outlet’s report also points back to District of Columbia v. Heller, which affirmed that commonly possessed firearms used by law-abiding Americans for lawful purposes fall within Second Amendment protection.

For now, Crump v. Katz continues as ongoing litigation over Virginia’s restrictions, with no final resolution in sight. AmmoLand’s report frames Monday’s ruling as a setback for Virginia’s effort to enforce its firearm and magazine restrictions, even as the state and federal legal landscape around assault-weapons bans remains unsettled heading into December.

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