With just one week left to pre-file legislation for the 2026 session, Virginia Democrats are beginning to unleash an onslaught of gun control bills. Democrats have largely been keeping their anti-gun agenda under wraps since gaining a governing trifeca last November in an attempt to ward off another round of Second Amendment sanctuary activism like the one that swept across the state in late 2019 and early 2020, and they've been largely successful in their effort.
Now though, we're starting to see some major gun control legislation unveiled, and the new bills should be a wake-up call for Virginia gun owners.
On Wednesday, Democrat Del. Dan Helmer introduced HB 217, a sweeping gun control bill that includes a ban on the import, sale, manufacture, purchase, and transfer of "assault firearms" and "large capacity" magazines. The ban would cover any semi-automatic center-fire rifle or pistol with a fixed magazine capacity of more than ten rounds, as well as center-fire rifles that have the ability to accept a detachable magazine and has one of the following characteristics: (i) a folding, telescoping, or collapsible stock; (ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the rifle; (iii) a second handgrip or a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand; (iv) a grenade launcher; (v) a flare launcher; (vi) a sound suppressor; (vii) a flash suppressor; (viii) a muzzle brake; (ix) a muzzle compensator; (x) a threaded barrel capable of accepting (a) a sound suppressor, (b) a flash suppressor, (c) a muzzle brake, or (d) a muzzle compensator
HB 217 also bans the sale, manufacture, and transfer of magazines that can hold more than ten rounds, and prohibits possession of any "assault firearm" for juveniles and adults under the age of 21, with no grandfather clause for those who currently own one.
Democrat Del. Karen Keys-Gamarra, meanwhile, has introduced HB 207, which would impose a new $500 tax on the sale of all suppressors in the state of Virginia. In the short term the bill is likely going to lead to a surge in purchases of suppressors, but if the bill becomes law and the $500 tax is imposed starting July 1, it will undoubtably have a chilling effect on suppressor sales going forward.
HB 201 and SB 109 are companion bills that would require local school boards to "develop and implement a policy to require the notification of the parent of each student enrolled in the school division, to be sent by email and, if applicable, SMS text message within 30 calendar days succeeding the first day of each school year, of... the parent's responsibility, in accordance with § 18.2-56.2, to safely store any firearm present in the household."
Such parental notification shall include information on (a) relevant state laws and regulations relating to safe firearm storage and child access to firearms and (b) firearm-related accidents, injuries, and deaths, including the role of firearms in suicides, including youth suicides, tips and resources for seeking help for a child that may be a danger to himself or others, and current statistics published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on youth firearm fatality rates. Each school board shall make such parental notification available in multiple languages on its website.
The only bright spot about HB 201 and SB 109 is that there doesn't appear to be any sort of enforcement mechanism or penalty for school boards that decline to participate in spreading anti-gun talking points to parents.
These bills, along with the other legislation we've previously reported on, are just the tip of the iceberg. There may be competing gun ban bills introduced in the House and Senate, and we know that Democrats are also crafting a permit-to-purchase measure, expansions to the state's "red flag" law, and other restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms.
Virginia gun owners should be contacting their delegates and senators to oppose these measures, but they should also be talking to their county supervisors about becoming or renewing their status as a Second Amendment sanctuary. The Virginia Citizens Defense League's Lobby Day will take place on Monday, January 19, and Second Amendment supporters across the state should make plans to be in Richmond that day to show their support for the right to keep and bear arms and their opposition to the Democrats' anti-gun agenda.
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