The bills Virginia gun owners are staring at are worrying to a significant degree. Not only do they ban so-called assault weapons and standard capacity magazines, but the magazine ban doesn’t include a grandfather clause.
If you’ve got a buttload of magazines you’ve accumulated over the years, even for guns you no longer own, you could wake up one morning and find yourself guilty of a felony because an old magazine fell behind your nightstand.
Now, it’s possible that it will get watered down to some degree. Still, I’m skeptical that it’ll happen, considering the so-called leadership in place in the Old Dominion State, but it’s hypothetically possible.
But in a discussion of it over at The Federalist–which features a cameo from our own Cam Edwards–writer Shawn Fleetwood suggests that the Supreme Court could well step in and kill this whole mess, even if they’re not actually focused on Virginia.
Although the outlook may seem dim, there is a bright spot that should give Virginians hope. Similar gun control laws passed in other states are being challenged in federal court and are currently pending before the Supreme Court.
During conference last week, the justices purportedly considered petitions asking the court to take up and hear oral arguments in Viramontes v. Cook County and Duncan v. Bonta. While Viramontes centers around Illinois’ Cook County criminalizing the sale, possession, or transfer of so-called “assault weapons” (like the commonly owned AR-15), Duncan deals with California’s ban on gun magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds.
Both cases give SCOTUS the chance to address what it refused to a year prior. As The Federalist previously reported, the court rejected consideration of challenges to similar laws passed by Maryland and Rhode Island that banned the possession of AR-15s and gun magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, respectively.
Only Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch signaled that they would take up and hear arguments in the cases. (At least four justices must agree to hear a case before it can be considered by the full court.)
In his scathing opinion responding to the court’s decision to deny cert, Thomas noted that he “would not wait to decide whether the government can ban the most popular rifle in America,” adding that such a question “is of critical importance to tens of millions of law-abiding AR–15 owners throughout the country.” He further underscored that the Constitution “allows the American people — not the government — to decide which weapons are useful for self-defense.”
While agreeing with the court’s decision to deny hearing the cases, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh issued a statement calling the lower court’s decision upholding Maryland’s law “questionable.” Equally significant, however, is that the justice said that he would be amenable to taking up such cases should they come before the court in the near future.
There have been some suggestions that Kavanaugh legitimately wants to take up an assault weapon ban case, but sided with the other justices last time because there was a promise of taking it up down the road.
Well, we’re down the road. This is the time.
Frankly, last year was the time, but that’s not really helpful right now, so let’s focus on the future. Right now, that future needs to involve the Supreme Court hearing an assault weapon ban case, in which case it’s likely to be overturned.
When you look at not just Bruen but even Heller, there’s no reason to believe an assault weapon ban bill will survive the High Court. Not only is there no national history of banning categories of firearms in general, including the legality of heavy artillery for civilian ownership, but the previous standard of weapons needing to be both dangerous and unusual.
While we might debate the dangers of such weapons, the fact that they’re the most popular model of long gun in the United States means the word “unusual” doesn’t apply, and “in common use” does.
But the problem is that this rests on at least four justices agreeing to take up the case here and now.
Even then, Virginia’s laws will be in place for a time before a decision can be handed down. That means millions of lawful gun owners may find themselves having to face a tough decision unless the lower courts opt to step in first.
I don’t envy Cam and other Virginians right now.
If you’re there, it’s time to call, email, and even visit your state lawmakers and make damn sure they know where you stand. Do it a lot so they clearly get the message.
The best hope for everyone is to just kill the bill here and now so it won’t have to rely on the courts.
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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