Did Virginia Governor Just Order Police to Enforce Unconstitutional Law?https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2026/04/24/did-virginia-governor-just-order-police-to-enforce-unconstitutional-law-n1232337?utm_source=badaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=fc85d9fd0a377773055f1925941bbce485d3c69b5dace0c187ab5912dd7d0cd7&lctg=26251812Quote:
Virginia's Democrat-controlled legislature and Gov. Abigail Spanberger approved a lot of gun control bills this session, and many of them will soon be subject to legal challenges. One bill, however, contains a directive to the Virginia State Police that Gun Owners of America argues is in direct violation of a court order.
HB 1525 raises the age to purchase handguns in the Commonwealth to 21, and Spanberger's amended version, which was approved by lawmakers this week along party-line votes, instructs the VSP to "administer, enforce, and otherwise implement § 18.2-308.2:5 of the Code of Virginia from the effective date of this bill."
That section of statute contains language requiring background checks be performed on almost every private sale of firearms, and GOA has sent a reminder to the VSP and the office of Attorney General Jay Jones that a judge has declared that statute unconstitutional.
Last October, a judge in Virginia's 24th Judicial Circuit entered a final order declaring the entirety of Virginia's universal background scheme unconstitutional because it contained a carveout for 18-to-20-year-olds buying handguns in a private sale that allowed them to bypass a NICS check (which would come back denied because of the federal prohibition on commercial handgun sales to adults under the age of 21). Instead, the VSP was required to have a presence at gun shows, where they would be available to run a background check that did not utilize the NICS system for those handgun buyers between the ages of 18 and 20.
The judge concluded that this scheme essentially exempted 18-to-20-year-olds from the state's universal background check requirements, which in turn makes the statute unconstitutionally infirm; not because it prevents that age group from being able to legally purchase handguns in private sales, which was the first issue, but by now exempting those adults from the background check law. According to the judge, that constitutionall infirmity "would likely give rise to a new set of constitutional challenges, particularly under the Equal Protection Clause."
https://twitter.com/GunOwners/status/2047428925572235584 
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