🚨@SpanbergerForVA is on discover: 2A rights SHALL NOT BE infringed.
We’re intently watching—within the occasion any illegal laws is enacted, we are going to sue. @CivilRights will shield the 2A rights of law-abiding residents in Virginia.
2A Part Legal professionals are standing by… 🚨 pic.twitter.com/h2DfXwgaKC
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) April 10, 2026
For years, gun homeowners have watched blue-state politicians go one unconstitutional restriction after one other whereas the federal authorities largely stood on the sidelines. Which may be altering.
In a April 10, 2026, letter to Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, Assistant Legal professional Common Harmeet Okay. Dhillon put the Commonwealth on formal discover: if Virginia enacts a slate of anti-gun payments now sitting on the governor’s desk, the U.S. Division of Justice Civil Rights Division is ready to sue.
That’s the federal authorities warning a state government, in writing, that sure proposed gun-control measures seem to violate the Second Modification and can set off litigation if signed into legislation.
The largest goal named within the letter is SB 749, which DOJ says would pressure Virginia legislation enforcement companies to take part in “a observe of unconstitutionally proscribing the making, shopping for, or promoting of AR-15s and lots of different semi-automatic firearms in frequent use.”
For atypical gun homeowners, that is the center of the problem. Anti-gun lawmakers have incessantly sought to ban the most well-liked rifles in America as “public security” measures. AR-15 sample rifles aren’t uncommon, uncommon, or outdoors the American custom of lawful possession. They’re among the many mostly owned rifles within the nation, used for house protection, recreation, coaching, and competitors by hundreds of thousands of law-abiding residents.
Dhillon’s letter cites the Supreme Courtroom’s 2025 resolution in Smith & Wesson Manufacturers, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, noting the Courtroom described AR-15s as “each extensively authorized and purchased by many atypical shoppers.” She additionally cites Garland v. Cargill, together with Justice Sotomayor’s dissent, for the proposition that AR-15s are “generally accessible, semiautomatic rifles.” The letter then factors to Justice Kavanaugh’s assertion respecting denial of certiorari in Snope v. Brown, which referenced arms possessed by “actually tens of hundreds of thousands of People.”
In a footnote, the letter acknowledges that the Fourth Circuit at present has opposite precedent, citing Bianchi v. Brown, the case upholding Maryland’s ban on so-called assault weapons. However DOJ flatly says that the case was wrongly determined. That may be a main assertion. Federal companies don’t evenly ship a governor a proper warning letter saying a controlling appellate resolution in that circuit was unsuitable.
The letter additionally goes past rifle bans. Dhillon warns that payments requiring constitutionally protected firearms to be stored in an inoperable state are unconstitutional beneath District of Columbia v. Heller.
Gun-control advocates like to market storage mandates as “frequent sense,” however the precise impact is usually to make a defensive firearm much less helpful when seconds matter most. Heller handled that downside straight when it struck down a requirement that firearms within the house be rendered and stored inoperable always. A gun locked up in a manner that stops prepared entry for self-defense shouldn’t be a lot use when somebody kicks your door in at 2 a.m.
Dhillon says Virginia lawmakers have despatched the governor a number of payments that might mirror restrictions struck down in Heller or in any other case intrude with the lawful use of protected arms for self-defense. She then broadens the warning additional, stating that the Common Meeting has forwarded “over 20 payments” proscribing Second Modification rights.
The Civil Rights Division has now formally created a Second Modification Part and has already begun bringing Second Modification circumstances in federal district and appellate courts. States like Virginia could now not be capable of assume they’ll go no matter they need and dare personal plaintiffs to spend years and fortunes difficult it.
Beneath Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has already begun treating the Second Modification like an precise civil proper as an alternative of a constitutional orphan. Her division sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division over concealed-carry allow delays after reviewing 1000’s of purposes, sued the District of Columbia over its ban on registering AR-15s and different frequent semiautomatic firearms, and sued the Virgin Islands Police Division over licensing practices DOJ stated decreased the correct to bear arms to a “digital nullity.”
Dhillon’s Civil Rights Division has additionally filed amicus briefs backing gun homeowners in main appellate fights, together with California’s ammunition background-check case in Rhode v. Bonta and the New Jersey problem to bans on AR-15s and standard-capacity magazines. In different phrases, Virginia shouldn’t be listening to empty discuss. It’s listening to from a DOJ Civil Rights Division that has already began constructing a document of intervening when governments deal with the Second Modification as non-obligatory.
After all, gun homeowners ought to keep real looking. This letter shouldn’t be a courtroom order. It’s not an injunction. It doesn’t forestall Virginia from enacting these payments by itself. If the Governor Spanberger indicators them, litigation will nonetheless take time, irrespective of how aggressive the DOJ chooses to be. It additionally does nothing to resolve the information that the ATF and DOJ plan to implement Biden-era gun management, in addition to a protracted record of latest betrayals.
Nevertheless, it’s nonetheless vital {that a} formal warning from the Civil Rights Division was despatched earlier than the payments have been signed into legislation. It tells Virginia lawmakers and the governor that they aren’t simply choosing a battle with gun-rights teams anymore. They might be choosing a battle with the federal authorities as effectively.
That’s precisely what ought to occur when a state strikes to ban a number of the commonest firearms in America and limit the flexibility of law-abiding residents to maintain usable arms for self-defense.
For too lengthy, anti-gun politicians have behaved as if the Second Modification is the one constitutional proper they’ll regulate, slender, and insult with out consequence. Virginia could also be about to study that this strategy comes with penalties in any case.
If Governor Spanberger indicators these payments, the subsequent battle could not simply be in Richmond. It could start with the Division of Justice strolling into federal courtroom and telling a decide that Virginia crossed a constitutional line.
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About Duncan Johnson:
Duncan Johnson is a lifelong firearms fanatic and unwavering defender of the Second Modification—the place “shall not be infringed” means precisely what it says. A graduate of George Mason College, he enjoys competing in native USPSA and multi-gun competitions each time he’s not masking the newest in gun rights and firearm coverage. Duncan is a daily contributor to AmmoLand Information and serves as a part of the editorial group liable for AmmoLand’s every day gun-rights reporting and business protection.
