Within twenty-four hours of Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) signing Virginia’s assault-weapons ban in mid-May, the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America, and the Second Amendment Foundation had filed suit — and by late July they had the ban blocked across the entire Commonwealth.

On August 21, a fourth Virginia court joined them. The gun owners are winning.

What Spanberger Signed — and Who Fought It

Spanberger signed HB 217 and SB 749 into law in mid-May. The law bans the sale, transfer, and manufacture of the rifles it labels “assault firearms” and of magazines holding more than 15 rounds. Her defense of it was blunt: “Firearms designed to inflict maximum casualties do not belong on our streets.”

Law-abiding Virginians who legally owned those firearms before July 1 disagreed — and so did the courts. The NRA’s challenge, Santolla v. Katz, produced a statewide preliminary injunction barring enforcement anywhere in Virginia, on a judge’s finding that the challengers are likely to prevail on the merits.

The August Stay Isn’t the Win. The Injunction Is.

The August 21 order out of Lancaster County is easy to misread. It paused a lawsuit’s proceedings — not the enforcement of the ban — so the case waits on the U.S. Supreme Court alongside the others. The thing actually keeping the ban off Virginians is the July injunction, and it holds.

Attorney General Jay Jones (D), who is defending the ban and asked for the stays, insists the law “remains in force” except where a court has specifically blocked it. The challengers say the injunction reaches the whole Commonwealth. That dispute is real — and it is exactly why the next word belongs to a higher court, not to Jay Jones.

Republican State Senator Bill Stanley (R-Franklin), one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, has argued the injunction blocks the law statewide. Three gun-rights groups filed. Four courts have now paused the ban pending the Supreme Court. Spanberger signed it, and it hasn’t been enforceable since July.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on assault-weapons bans by June 2027, and Virginia’s injunction holds until 60 days after that decision. The delegates and senators who wrote this ban — including its Fairfax-area sponsor, Delegate Dan Helmer (D-HD-10) — are on the ballot in November 2027. So is the question of whether Virginia keeps trying to ban the guns its citizens already lawfully own.