A ban on modern semiautomatic firearms faces a new legal hurdle in Virginia Wednesday after a firearms industry trade group asked for a preliminary injunction.
Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed the ban on so-called “assault weapons,” SB 749, into law on May 14, drawing immediate suits from pro-Second Amendment organizations, including the National Rifle Association (NRA), Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC). The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) said in a Wednesday press release that the plaintiffs, including a retired Green Beret, a clay shooter, a firearms dealer and two firearms industry companies, were seeking a hearing before June 19 on a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of the ban.
“[R]ecently-enacted Senate Bill 749 (“SB749”) takes the radical step of banning nearly every modern semiautomatic rifle – including ‘the most popular rifle in the country,’ which just last year the United States Supreme Court unanimously agreed is ‘widely legal and purchased by many ordinary customers’ for self-defense, hunting, target shooting and other lawful recreation,” the motion for a preliminary injunction says.
In an article published May 13, The New York Times noted that not only was the AR-15 a very popular rifle, but that modern semiautomatic firearms bearing a superficial resemblance to the AK-47 were previously “ubiquitous” before the AR-15’s ascendance among the general public. The NSSF estimated in a January release that over 32 million “modern sporting rifles,” including AR-15s and the AK-style semi-autos, have been produced since 1990.
“Spanberger admitted in her statement when she signed the law that she knew it banned popular hunting guns,” NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane said about the request for the injunction. “Allowing this law to be enforced while it is being challenged in court would cause irreparable harm to law-abiding Virginians who seek to exercise the full spectrum of their civil liberties.”
Spanberger did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
