Everytown Condemns DOJ Lawsuit Against Virginia’s Assault Weapons Ban

RICHMOND, Va. - Today, the Department of Justice announced it is suing the Commonwealth of Virginia over its newly enacted assault weapons ban. This comes just months after Governor Abigail Spanberger signed the bill, alongside a slate of 20 other gun safety measures, into law. Just yesterday, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins, which involve reckless gun lobby challenges to Cook County, Illinois and Connecticut laws restricting assault weapons - weapons that are frequently used in our nation's deadliest mass shootings.

"Let's call this what it is: a politically-motivated attempt to override the 74% of Virginia voters who support an assault weapons ban, in order to placate extremists and the gun industry," said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. "As we've seen far too many times, when weapons of war flood our streets, entire communities can be shattered in seconds."

To date, 11 states and Washington D.C. have enacted laws to prohibit assault weapons and 16 states have enacted regulations around assault weapons more generally. These laws have been consistently upheld by federal courts, first in the wake of District of Columbia v. Heller, which first held that there is an individual right under the Second Amendment, and again after New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen. All four federal courts of appeals that have considered the constitutionality of assault weapon laws since Bruen-the First, Second, Fourth, and Seventh Circuits-have upheld them. Virginia is in the Fourth Circuit. Advocates now look to Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, a steadfast advocate for gun safety, to defend Virginia's common-sense and life-saving law.

From 2015 to 2022, shootings with four or more people killed where assault weapons were used resulted in nearly six times as many people shot, more than twice as many people killed, and 23 times as many people wounded per incident, on average compared to those that did not involve the use of one. Additionally, from 2016 to 2025, all of the ten deadliest mass shooting incidents involved both an assault weapon and a large-capacity magazine. Read more here.