Just days before the new law was set to go into effect on July 1, Lancaster County Circuit Court Judge John S. Martin on Thursday, June 25, sided with guns rights groups and Loudon County resident John Crump, barring Virginia State Police from enforcing an assault weapons ban.
The preliminary injunction was issued after Martin found the state would likely not succeed in arguing the constitutionality of the new law which would make it a Class 1 misdemeanor to import, sell, purchase manufacture or transfer firearms with defined characteristics and magazines holding more than 15 rounds.
According to Courthouse News Service, Martin said the characteristics listed in the bill lacked any rational basis.
In the complaint filed against Virginia State Police Superintendent Jeffrey Katz, Crump the Gun Owners of America and Virginia Citizens Defense League argued that the law would run afoul of a 1971 amendment to Virginia’s Constitution regarding militias that added “therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
The commonwealth countered that the guns included in the ban are akin to military weapons that are especially dangerous. Martin questioned why the ban did not apply to all military weapons, including M1 carbines and handguns, which remain legal.
Speaking for the commonwealth, Deputy Solicitor General Trent Taylor argued that the plaintiff’s theory would give Virginias the right to bear any arms, including grenade launchers. “There is no absolute right to bear arms.”
The injunction comes just one week after a Spotsylvania judge denied to block the ban based on a complaint of two gun store owners who argued the measure violated the militia clause of the Virginia Constitution.
And in Washington County, the National Rifle Association filed a similar complaint on behalf of gun retailers and hobbyists. The judge there did not issue an immediate ruling.
The injunction will remain in place until December 31 or until a final order is issued. The commonwealth suggested they would appeal the ruling.
