Virginia’s Democrat-controlled legislature and Gov. Abigail Spanberger approved a lot of gun control bills this session, and many of them will soon be subject to legal challenges. One bill, however, contains a directive to the Virginia State Police that Gun Owners of America argues is in direct violation of a court order.
HB 1525 raises the age to purchase handguns in the Commonwealth to 21, and Spanberger’s amended version, which was approved by lawmakers this week along party-line votes, instructs the VSP to “administer, enforce, and otherwise implement § 18.2-308.2:5 of the Code of Virginia from the effective date of this bill.”
That section of statute contains language requiring background checks be performed on almost every private sale of firearms, and GOA has sent a reminder to the VSP and the office of Attorney General Jay Jones that a judge has declared that statute unconstitutional.
GOA and @VCDL_ORG put the state police on notice. If they attempt to enforce an unlawful background check, we will immediately initiate contempt proceedings.
Spanberger has no respect for the courts, but hopefully the state police do. https://t.co/L05i9HgMIz pic.twitter.com/7MB0WyzE4U
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) April 23, 2026
Last October, a judge in Virginia’s 24th Judicial Circuit entered a final order declaring the entirety of Virginia’s universal background scheme unconstitutional because it contained a carveout for 18-to-20-year-olds buying handguns in a private sale that allowed them to bypass a NICS check (which would come back denied because of the federal prohibition on commercial handgun sales to adults under the age of 21). Instead, the VSP was required to have a presence at gun shows, where they would be available to run a background check that did not utilize the NICS system for those handgun buyers between the ages of 18 and 20.
The judge concluded that this scheme essentially exempted 18-to-20-year-olds from the state’s universal background check requirements, which in turn makes the statute unconstitutionally infirm; not because it prevents that age group from being able to legally purchase handguns in private sales, which was the first issue, but by now exempting those adults from the background check law. According to the judge, that constitutionall infirmity “would likely give rise to a new set of constitutional challenges, particularly under the Equal Protection Clause.”
Then-Attorney General Jason Miyares declined to appeal the judge’s decision, which leaves it the law of the land. Since last fall, the Virginia State Police has not enforced § 18.2-308.2:5, but now Spanberger is ordering them to do so starting July 1.
GOA says it will initiate contempt proceedings if the State Police follows the directive of the legislature and the governor and resumes enforcement of the universal background check scheme.
In his order, Judge F. Patrick Yeatts wrote, “if the legislature wishes to rewrite the law to create a system that does not impose disparate treatment based on age, it may do so.”
HB 1525 is an attempt to do just that, though it’s certainly not the direction Second Amendment supporters would choose. 18-to-20-year-olds wishing to purchase a handgun via a private sale are no longer exempt from the state’s background check provisions because they’re no longer able to legally purchase a handgun via a private sale, whether or not a background check is conducted.
Yeatts, though, did issue a permanent injunction against enforcement of § 18.2-308.2:5; not as it was written at the time of his order, but in its entirety.
If the Virginia State Police does resume enforcement of the universal background check scheme, Yeatts might very well hold the agency in contempt of court. I’m sure the AG will argue that the statute is no longer constitutionally infirm because of adults under the age of 21 can no longer legally purchase a handgun under any circumstance (or at least starting on July 1), but I don’t know if that matters much given the language of Yeatts’ order.
If Yeatts were to find the VSP in contempt, though, the agency could contest that decision by taking it to the Court of Appeals. That, in turn, could potentially re-ignite the legal wrangling over Yeatts’ decision striking down the background check scheme despite Miyares’s refusal to appeal Yeatts’ ruling.
Earlier this week, I said in a post on X that the argument about the constitutionality of HB 1525 isn’t really cut-and-dried. I stand by that, though I think GOA has a strong case. We’ll soon see what the position of the Virginia State Police and Attorney General Jay Jones will be… and we may very well see them in court defending enforcement of the enjoined statute before long as well.
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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