Virginia Judge Calls Off Hearing on Looming Gun and Magazine Ban

A hearing on a request for an injunction blocking the implementation of Virginia's "assault firearm" and "large capacity" magazine ban that was scheduled for Friday has now been put on ice after judge in Lancaster County, Virginia abruptly issued an order staying all proceedings in the lawsuit. 

Judge John S. Martin pointed to a recent move by the Virginia Supreme Court as the reason for cancelling the hearing. The court has appointed a three-judge panel to determine whether the multiple cases filed in four different counties should be consolidated and transferred to one jurisdiction, as requested by anti-gun Attorney General Jay Jones. 

The plaintiffs in the Lancaster County case, which includes Gun Owners of America, Virginia Citizens Defense League, and Second Amendment journalist John Crump, filed an emergency response to the judge's order, arguing that there's no reason to delay the proceedings, especially since the three-judge panel hasn't even "communicated any briefing or hearing schedule to counsel, nor given any indication yet as to how soon or how quickly it may proceed."

It is entirely plausible that the Panel may take several months to have proceedings and issue a decision, by which point the Plaintiffs and those whose interests they represent will have suffered ongoing and irreparable harm for months.

The motion also argues that there's nothing within Virginia's Multiple Claimant Litigation Act requiring lower courts to stay proceedings "merely because an application to consolidate was filed and is pending."

Indeed, the only restriction on this Court’s authority at this time under a pending consolidation application is that “a circuit court shall not enter any further orders under § 8.01-267.3 until after the panel has entered an order granting or denying an application for transfer pursuant to subsection A.” In other words, this Court may not enter any consolidation or transfer orders of its own, but may otherwise proceed normally unless and until the case is transferred. The MCLA is not intended as a tool or artifice to delay or sidestep the ability of parties to seek temporary injunctive relief to avoid imminent harm while the MCLA process is still proceeding.

We're less than a month away from the gun and magazine ban taking effect, and as the plaintiffs point out, there's no indication that the three-judge panel will have reached a decision on whether or not to consolidate the four distinct lawsuits before then. Even if they were to issue a decision in the next few days, it would be difficult to ensure that a hearing could be scheduled in time for a decision on an preliminary injunction to be reached before July 1. 

There is at least one other injunctive hearing that's still on the docket, at least for now. A case filed in Washington County Circuit Court is scheduled for a hearing on June 25, and so far there's no indication that the judge in that case will call a similar pause to the proceedings. 

Attorney General Jay Jones has also filed his response to the plaintiffs in Crump v. Katz (the Lancaster County case), and we'll be doing a deep dive on the AG's arguments later today. Jones has thrown the legal equivalent of the kitchen sink at the plaintiffs, arguing that the Virginia Constitution doesn't protect an individual right to keep and bear arms, but even if it did, it wouldn't protect the right to own guns like the AR-15 and others prohibited under the "assault firearm" ban. 

The plaintiffs will have the opportunity to challenge those claims. The question now is whether they'll be able to do so before the ban on the sale, manufacture, and transfer of these arms goes into effect. I have to say that I'm not particularly optimistic that Judge Martin will reverse himself, though the plaintiffs have made a strong argument in favor of doing just that. With the clock ticking down to Friday's now-halted hearing, we won't have to wait too long to learn what Martin will do. 

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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