Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger is facing an April 13 deadline to sign, veto, or allow the slew of gun control bills adopted by Democrats this session to become law without her signature.
Actually, there's one more avenue she could take. I don't think it's likely, but with a highly contested referendum on a gerrymandered redistricting of the state's congressional seats to give Democrats a 10-1 advantage coming up on April 21, she could decide to hold off on signing some or all of the gun control bills sitting on her desk without actually vetoing them.
Gotta wonder if Spanberger is considering this option. Not because she actually cares to amend the gun bans, but to stall for time for the sake of the gerrymander vote and prevent angry gun owners from showing up at the polls to punish her. pic.twitter.com/bmBjuFuyuq
— Kostas Moros (@MorosKostas) April 9, 2026
Regardless of what Spanberger does in the next week, I do expect that come July 1, Virginia will have a new law banning the manufacture, sale, and most transfers of "assault firearms."
That bill has already lead to a huge spike in gun sales across Virginia, but it's also sparked fears of gun confiscation. Enough so that the man in charge of the Virginia State Police felt compelled to address those concerns today.
The Virginia State Police would like to ensure residents of the Commonwealth that recent viral posts raising concerns about firearm confiscation are not reflective of any proposed legislation, and we remain committed to safeguarding public safety and civil liberties. pic.twitter.com/fcUsu7ZKwi
— VA State Police (@VSPPIO) April 9, 2026
The statement by Col. Katz has generated a fair amount of mockery on social media, with many folks rolling their eyes and even suggesting that the state police would, in fact, go door-to-door collecting banned guns if ordered to do so.
Given that Virginia doesn't have gun registration, I'm not even sure how that would be accomplished. And it's worth noting that in states that have gone back and declared lawfully-purchased items illegal, there have been no large-scale roundups. Even in Canada cops aren't going door-to-door to grab the guns banned by the Liberal government.
I'm not particularly concerned about the prospect of illegal searches and door-to-door roundups of "assault firearms" in Virginia. Democrats may very well move to criminalize the possession of currently-owned firearms in the near future, but I think they'll be content with prosecuting anyone found with a banned gun instead of engaging in a mass confiscation plan.
Still, I do have a question for Katz, and I posed it to him on X shortly after the VSP post was released.
Cool. Now, what are you planning on doing if the governor signs a bill banning the sale and transfer of commonly-owned arms? If confiscation of firearms is a violation of our civil rights, what about banning the acquisition of those same guns? https://t.co/n7dEx4djPQ
— Cam Edwards (@CamEdwards) April 9, 2026
Katz says the Virginia State Police works every day to enhance safety and protect civil rights; liberties that were not created by government and will not be impeded by government. Katz even goes so far as to call door-to-door confiscation of firearms "un-American," and I wholeheartedly concur.
But as I asked, if confiscating banned firearms violates our civil rights, what about curtailing our ability to lawfully acquire them? Doesn't that serve as a violation of our fundamental civil liberties too?
If Katz came out today and said that under his watch, the Virginia State Police will not be enforcing any ban on the sale and manufacture of "assault firearms" and "large capacity" magazines, he'd be a hero to millions of Virginians, and I'd be impressed with his principled stand.
Of course, I don't expect to get any response from the state police, nor do I believe that Katz will do anything to prevent the ban on sales of "assault firearms" and "large capacity" magazines from being enforced by state troopers. It's pretty easy to say that the door-to-door confiscation of firearms won't happen under his watch, especially when there's no danger of him being ordered to do so at the moment. That's not the only way our civil rights can be violated, though. Enforcing a law that criminalizes the acquisition and sale of commonly-owned firearms is not a lesser evil than enforcing a law banning their possession. They both tread on our fundamental civil liberties, and I'm not going to proclaim Katz a hero just because he's declared his opposition to door-to-door gun confiscatin.
