Virginia House Democrats Deny Spanberger’s Gun Ban Amendment

Earlier today, I wrote that the Democrat-controlled Virginia legislature was set to approve Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s changes to a gun and magazine ban bill that would turn any semi-automatic firearm with a magazine capable of holding more than 15 rounds into an “assault firearm.” The Senate sponsor of the bill had given his thumbs up to the change, and given that a simple majority vote is all that’s needed to approve her amendments, I figured the House would have more than enough votes given the Democrat supermajority in the lower chamber. 

As it turns out, though, the House leadership delivered a curveball when the bill came up during today’s one-day session. 

WOW. @VAHouseDems just blew off 20+ recommendations from @SpanbergerForVA with NO vote.

— Garren Shipley (@GarrenShipley) April 22, 2026

That “NO” vote did not include HB 217, but apparently Spanberger still isn’t going to get her wish. 

We’re still in session. They punted on HB217, which means that she can either sign or veto the version that came out of the House.

— Garren Shipley (@GarrenShipley) April 22, 2026

Sure enough, the legislature’s website lists HB 217 as having been “passed by for the day.” That’s not a formal “NO” vote, but it accomplishes the same thing. By not approving her proposed changes, the legislature has sent the bill back to the governor, who can now sign the bill without her amendments or veto the legislation. 

There’s not a snowball’s chance in Florida that Spanberger is going to outright veto the gun and magazine ban, in my opinion. She’s far too chummy with the gun control lobby to reject any bill placing restrictions on our right to keep and bear arms, especially the bill that is the top priority for gun control groups this session. My guess is HB 217 will take effect on July 1, but without the governor’s language that would make any firearm equipped with a magazine that can hold more than 15 rounds an “assault firearm,” then SB 727’s restrictions on carrying “assault firearms” in public will not encompass semi-automatic pistols with 17 or 20 round magazines. 

The “Wow” from the Virginia House GOP’s comms director shows what a surprise this is, even to those working in close contact with legislators. So why didn’t Spanberger’s fellow Democrats go along with her proposed change?

There’s been some consternation among Democrat lawmakers about the sheer number of bills that Spanberger has attempt to amend, with complaints that she didn’t provide much guidance or input to legislators until after bills had been sent to her desk. The relationship between Spanberger and Democrat leadership in the legislature appears to be frostier than most of us thought, since HB 217 was far from the only bill where Spanberger’s proposed amendments were rejected. 

The one-day session is still underway, and lawmakers have yet to take up all of the gun control bills Spanberger has tried to amend. It’s also possible that we could see some late-day shenanigans involving the Senate version of the gun and magazine ban bill. If Democrats want to make Spanberger sweat for a few hours, they could reject her changes to the House version, but approve the changes to the Senate bill later today. I don’t think that’s likely, but then, I didn’t expect the House to reject her amendment either. We’ll be keeping an eye out for updates, and we’ll have a full breakdown of what happens today on Thursday’s Bearing Arms Cam & Company with guest Stephen Gutowski of The Reload. 

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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