Gun Owners Foundation and the Virginia Citizens Defense League asked a Virginia court Thursday to hold the state in contempt after it began enforcing a universal background check previously blocked by a permanent injunction.
Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail 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 the law blocked by the injunction and adding an emergency provision. Circuit Court for the City of Lynchburg issued a permanent injunction in October 2025 after declaring the state’s universal background check unconstitutional, leading to Thursday’s contempt motion brought by the pro-Second Amendment organizations.
The office of Democratic Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones confirmed in an email to attorneys representing the gun-rights organizations that “the Virginia State Police has resumed conducting background checks earlier this afternoon, pursuant to the newly enacted statute(s).”
BREAKING
Virginia State Police says universal background checks on private gun sales are ‘back in effect’ despite a court order in our GOA & VCDL case blocking enforcement.@GunOwners and @VCDL_ORG‘s motion for contempt will be filed tomorrow. https://t.co/L05i9HgMIz
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) May 28, 2026
“The General Assembly, the Governor, Defendant and now the Attorney General all believe they are free to enforce Section 18.2-308.2:5 irrespective of this Court’s permanent injunction, simply because they passed a new law saying they could,” the motion states. “Beyond the immediate and irreparable harm to countless Virginians caused by these actions, the Commonwealth ceases to have a functional system of government if Defendant and those directing him from above are permitted to simply ignore a court’s clear directive.”
A VSP spokesperson confirmed that the agency had “reinstated private sale background checks” after receiving word from the attorney general’s office that the new law “superseded” the injunction.
“Even if HB1525 somehow ‘overruled by statute’ this Court’s injunction in a self-executing manner (it did not), the purported emergency effective date is a nullity because the enacted bill was not passed by a four-fifths majority in the General Assembly,” the motion states.
Spanberger amended the original HB 1525, which was intended to increase restrictions on minors carrying handguns and so-called “assault weapons” to require enforcement of the “universal background checks,” while also declaring it emergency legislation. Virginia Civil Defense League President Phillip Van Cleave told the Daily Caller News Foundation that effort may not have been legal.
“Such a thing is supposed to take a 4/5 majority of the House and Senate to concur with emergency legislation and they didn’t get that,” Van Cleave said.
The Virginia state Senate approved the amended version in a 21-18 vote, while the Virginia House of Delegates backed the altered measure by a 63-36 vote, both well below the 80% threshold, according to the state Legislature’s website.
Jones did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
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