Two Virginia prosecutors who have declared they will not enforce a ban on modern semiautomatic firearms explained the reasoning behind their decisions to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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). Clarke County Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew Bass, who announced his refusal to enforce the ban on May 29 alongside Clarke County Sheriff Travis M. Sumption, told the DCNF he discussed the implications of the legislation with the sheriff before their joint statement.
“It didn’t take a crystal ball to see that proposed legislation from Richmond, including SB 749, would like come under constitutional scrutiny,” Bass said when reached by the DCNF. “As with any policy and/or practice decision in my office, I started with legal research into the issue. I am not reinventing the wheel here; there is an abundance of well-thought-out briefing of these issues by a number of publicly-available resources.”
“As I re-familiarized myself with the arguments (it had been several years since I looked into them), I simultaneously had a conversation with our Sheriff about his thoughts on practical enforcement, likely constitutional challenges, and whether we were on the same page – unsurprisingly, both being from Clarke County, after further discussion we agreed that we should put out a joint statement regarding our intent not to enforce SB 749,” Bass continued.
Powhatan Country Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Cerullo told the DCNF his decision to decline to enforce the law on constitutional grounds was based on the Supreme Court’s June 2022 Bruen decision.
“In Bruen, the Supreme Court provided its most recent description of the Constitutional framework for regulating firearms – stating that any restrictions on firearms must be consistent with ‘the nation’s historical tradition of firearms regulation,’” Cerullo said when reached for comment. “The Court concluded that ‘American governments simply have not broadly prohibited the public carry of commonly used firearms for personal defense.’”
“SB 749 restricts firearms by banning a list of common firearm features. It labels firearms possessing these features as ‘assault firearms,’” Cerullo continued. “It gives no contemplation to how banned weapons are used, if they are in broad circulation, or if they have been a mainstay for sporting or other lawful applications for decades.”
As of this writing, a dozen other top county prosecutors have made similar declarations, starting with Spotsylvania County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ryan Mehaffey on May 15.
“These laws are undoubtedly inconsistent with the historical tradition of Virginia, as articulated by Miller, and are thus unconstitutional under Bruen,” Mehaffey said in a Facebook post. “Moreover, Heller secures the right of Virginians to keep and bear the most popular rifle in America, an AR-15, for the lawful purpose of readiness for service in the Virginia militia, as the Founders intended.”
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. Under the Supreme Court’s rulings in Heller and Bruen, firearms in common use for lawful purposes fall under the Second Amendment’s protection.
Most prosecutors cited the Second Amendment or the Supreme Court’s decisions to back up their stance.
“In my review, the statutes sought to be established by the Legislature and Governor, do, in fact, completely ignore the intention of the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution, and Article I, Section 13 of the Bill of Rights of the Virginia Constitution,” Shenandoah County Commonwealth’s Attorney Elizabeth Cooper said.
“It is my firm opinion, that in passing this ‘assault weapons’ ban, the legislature passed a state law that infringed on the ‘higher law’ of our land in our United States Constitution and in the Constitution of Virginia,” Goochland County Commonwealth’s Attorney John L. Lumpkins, Jr. wrote in a letter released May 27.
Spanberger, who has signed a series of anti-Second Amendment measures into law, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
Spanberger signed HB 1525 into law on April 22 after the General Assembly concurred with her amendments directing the Virginia State Police (VSP) to enforce a “universal background checka law blocked by a court order and adding an emergency provision. The court reeaffirmed its injunction Wednesday after the Virginia Citizens Defense League challenged the new law.
Democrats in the Virginia state Legislature passed a host of laws, including bills banning supposed “ghost guns” and targeting the firearms industry, both of which have been signed into law by Spanberger.
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