President Donald Trump speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House after an unspecified threat at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington, Saturday, April 25, 2026, as acting Attorney General Todd Blanche looks on (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
The Trump administration on Wednesday sued the Commonwealth of Virginia over its ban on the sale of assault-style weapons.
In its 13-page complaint, the U.S. Department of Justice leans heavily into the role Virginia, and Virginians, played in the nation's history.
"From before the beginning of this Nation's existence, Virginians have provided indispensable leadership in the cause of constitutional liberty," the lawsuit begins. "Virginian James Madison is, for good reason, known as the Father of the Constitution. Madison also drafted and proposed the Bill of Rights, which became effective on December 15, 1791, when Virginia became the eleventh state to ratify it."
In May, Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, signed SB749, which bans the future sales of so-called "assault firearms" like the AR-15 and other similar guns. The legislation also bans the purchase, manufacture, transfer or import of all firearms in the Old Dominion that can hold more than 15 rounds of ammunition.
The statute, which is set to go into effect in July, subjects those who violate the law to a Class 1 misdemeanor charge, which is punishable by up to one year in jail and a potential fine of up to $2,500.
Almost immediately after the governor's signature on the bill, lawsuits were filed at the state and federal level — some of which secured temporary restraining orders. The DOJ's lawsuit adds to the pile of ongoing litigation targeting the ban.
The Trump administration's lawsuit challenges the new law under a federal statute that makes it a crime for any governmental authority — or its agents; the filing also names the Virginia State Police as defendants — to engage in a "pattern or practice" that deprives individuals of their rights. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges the ban infringes on the Second Amendment's right to bear arms.
"The Constitution is not a suggestion, and the Second Amendment is not a second-class right," Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a press release announcing the litigation. "This Justice Department has done more to protect the Second Amendment than any administration in our nation's history, and we will continue to do so whenever necessary."
The lawsuit also takes state legislators to task for their preferred nomenclature when enacting the ban, accusing Democrats of using "politically charged rhetoric to describe the arms to which it applies."
"The term 'assault firearm' is not a technical term used in the firearms industry," the lawsuit goes on. "Rather, the term 'assault weapon' (and derivatives of that term) is a rhetorically charged political term developed by anti-gun publicists. In the real world (as opposed to the fevered imaginations of some politicians), the rifles that the statute calls 'assault firearms' include ordinary semiautomatic rifles lawfully possessed and used by millions of law-abiding Americans."
The filing argues the ban runs afoul of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in a 2022 case that found gun restrictions to be constitutional only if there is a historical tradition or analog to such regulation.
Here, the DOJ says, that simply is not the case.
"In summary, the Second Amendment's plain text covers the conduct of those law-abiding Virginians who desire to buy and sell AR-15s," the lawsuit continues. "Therefore, the Constitution presumptively protects that conduct. Another way of saying that is the Virginia statute that bans such conduct is presumptively unconstitutional."
The constitutional analysis from the cited high court case dovetails with the lawsuit's emphasis on Virginia's history.
"Virginians can be justly proud of their centuries-long tradition of leadership in the cause of liberty," the filing goes on. "Sadly, however, that tradition was recently besmirched by the Virginia legislature's enactment of SB749, a statute that infringes law-abiding Virginians' fundamental right to keep and bear arms and thus violates the Second Amendment."
The DOJ also takes a cue from national history — and firearm usage — to press its case in the Eastern District of Virginia.
"There is no historical tradition of banning arms in common use," the lawsuit continues. "Therefore, the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding Americans to possess and use weapons that are in common use for lawful purposes. The statute bans the purchase and sale of AR-15 style rifles. As set forth in this section, Americans own and use for lawful purposes tens of millions of AR-15 style rifles."
The lawsuit seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction that bars the defendants "from enforcing the provisions of SB749 that make it illegal to buy and sell AR-15 style semiautomatic rifles."