A year after its passage, Rhode Island’s prohibition on the sale, manufacture and transfer of so-called assault weapons takes effect today, as does an almost identical law in Virginia.
Unlike Virginia, though, Rhode Island’s law is not subject to any kind of injunction barring enforcement, at least not yet. So, just like in the Old Dominion, gun stores were swamped with customers in the days before the ban took effect.
At Surplus Provisions & Firearms in Warwick, customers lined up Tuesday to pick up firearms before the midnight deadline.
“We have people that had started to line up an hour before we opened this morning and an hour before we opened yesterday and throughout the weekend, just to come in and pick up the firearms,” co-owner Tonya Pereira said. “If they don’t pick up the firearms today by 11:59 p.m., if they are not legally in their possession, then our hands are tied and there’s no transfer of the firearm that can happen.”
Just as we’ve seen in Virginia, Pereira says sales started increasing months ago, but things got “absolutely crazy” in May before ramping up even more in June… even as Democrat lawmakers in Providence threatened to pass additional legislation banning the possession of these semi-automatic firearms.
As for Virginia, state Sen. Bill Stanley, who is also the lead attorney in the NRA and Virginia Shooting Sports Association lawsuit challenging the ban on “assault firearms” and large capacity magazines, contends that the injunction put in place by a Washington County judge applies in every county, not just those where Commonwealth’s Attorneys were named as defendants.
“With the injunction in place, the bans will not be enforced against all Virginians while the case proceeds. The Court ordered that the injunction remain in effect until further order of the Court or no later than July 1, 2027,” Stanley said in a press release.
I’d feel better if the judge himself had made that statement, but practically speaking it may not matter much anyway. As an experiment, I tried to purchase AR-15s from several gun manufacturers this morning, but when it came time for me to pick a local FFL in Virginia where my rifle would be shipped, I received a pop-up informing me that, because of the new law, I could not proceed with my purchase.
Virginia, here’s a direct update on the assault weapons ban — and what it means for your orders.
Over the past few days, courts have weighed in on Virginia’s new assault weapons law. One ruling blocked enforcement. Other cases are still pending. Right now there’s no clean,… pic.twitter.com/iXUuS4RTv4
— Palmetto State Armory (@palmettoarmory) June 30, 2026
If there are any magazines or “assault firearms” left in the inventory of Virginia FFLs, some of them may choose to continue selling them until their stock runs out, especially if they’re located in one of the counties where the injunction is specifically in place. The Virginia State Police are enjoined from enforcing the law, which means the agency shouldn’t deny any background check on the purchase of an “assault firearm,” but we’ve heard nothing from the agency about whether or not that’s the case. The only statement on the VSP website about background checks is a notice that, as of today, all sales are subject to mandatory background checks.
With the Supreme Court accepting a challenge to the Cook County, Illinois ban on “assault weapons” on Tuesday, I’d argue that in both Virginia and Rhode Island the laws should be put on hold until the justices decide whether commonly-owned firearms used for lawful purposes can be banned in accordance with the Constitution. That hasn’t happened yet, though, so for the time being the Second Amendment rights of Virginians, Rhode Islanders, and residents of every other state where an “assault weapon” ban is in place are still affected and infringed upon.
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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