If you thought Virginia Democrats might slow their anti-gun crusade after their party took a shellacking at the polls across the country this past November yet retained slim majorities over both the state senate and legislature, think again. Fortunately, the Old Dominion has a Republican attorney general, lieutenant governor and governor, the latter who is ready to wield his veto pen like a battle axe. And after years of failed attempts, Senate Dems are still throwing everything they can at the wall in the hopes that just one of their restrictive, unconstitutional bills might stick.

On Monday, in a desperate bid to reclaim lost ground, the Democrat-controlled Senate pushed through a flurry of gun control measures along party lines. Their crown jewel? A ban on so-called “assault weapons,” a vague, politically convenient term they’ve used to target some of the most popular and commonly owned rifles in the country.

Of course, this isn’t their first rodeo. The same ban has passed the Senate three times before, only to get shut down in the Republican-controlled House or buried under the weight of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s veto stamp. Last year, Youngkin made it crystal clear where he stood, stating that banning a broad category of firearms used for self-defense and other lawful purposes was a direct violation of the Constitution. Yet, Democrats remain unfazed, running the same failed play over and over again in hopes of a different result.

A Laundry List of Nonsense

The assault weapons ban is just the beginning. Virginia Democrats have also doubled down on laws that would criminalize gun owners for simply exercising their rights. Among their latest attempts:

• Mandatory locked storage laws – While proper storage of firearms is something every gun owner should practice, should the government really be the one telling us how to do it and punishing law-abiding citizens who have a right to determine how they live inside their homes. How do you even enforce a law like this until after the fact. Education, not legislation, is the key here. 
• Banning guns in hospitals with mental health services – Last year, Youngkin tried to strike a compromise that would prevent firearms from being transferred to mental health patients, but Democrats rejected it. Now they’re back, trying to ram through an even more restrictive version that forbids even concealed carry permit holders from lawfully carrying where current law allows.
• More restrictions on concealed carry – Senate Bill 1329 would strip law-abiding Virginians of their right to keep a firearm in their vehicle for self-defense unless they have a concealed carry permit. Sen. David Marsden, D-Burke, claims this will stop gun thefts from cars, while Sen. Mark Obenshain, a Republican, rightly pointed out that the bill would do the exact opposite—forcing gun owners to leave their firearms in plain sight rather than securing them inside their vehicles. Currently Virginia allows open carry, including in vehicles, meaning with this law, it would be legal to leave a gun lying on your car seat or dashboard, but illegal to lock it up in a console or locked storage box in your vehicle. Tell me how that makes sense?
• A ban on “ghost guns” – Democrats are still obsessed with outlawing homemade firearms, despite the fact that criminals overwhelmingly get their guns through theft or illegal street sales—not from people 3D-printing receivers in their basements.

And perhaps the most absurd of all:

• A five-day waiting period for gun purchases – Besides being a chronic hassle for law-abiding gun owners to have to go back and forth multiple times to make a single purchase, such a law leaves people who need to protect themselves, such as victims of violent crime such as domestic abuse, vulnerable and unable to protect themselves for five days. Instead of offering an immediate carve-out for those in danger as suggested by Republicans, Democrats insisted the bill should pass as-is, promising they’d “fix it later.” They’re always so good at fixing things later, right? Some people need to really think about how they want to vote before going to the polls, maybe we should suggest a five-day waiting period after you come to the polls, you go back home for five days and then come back to vote. I’m sure they’d lose their minds over that!

And for good measure, Senate Dems also voted to raise the age for purchasing an “assault firearm” to 21—unless, of course, you’re in law enforcement or the military. Because in their world, an 18-year-old is responsible enough to carry a rifle into combat or strap on a badge, but not to defend his own home, while a 16-year-old should be able to vote, but must be warned not to eat Tide Pods, and a 12-year-old should be allowed to make the decision to have sex-altering surgery while none of them can even sit in a Congressional hearing and define something as simple as what a man and a woman are. 

Common sense? Democrats love to throw that word around when suggesting restrictive gun legislation yet prove in every other aspect, they don’t know what the hell “common sense” is.

Thank God for the Guv

While Virginia’s House of Delegates still needs to vote on these measures, and with a Democratic majority (51-49) it will likely pass down party lines, there’s little doubt that Gov. Youngkin will once again serve as the last line of defense for gun owners and true common-sense citizens in the Commonwealth. The Republican governor has already rejected similar restrictions before, and nothing in these bills suggests they’d fare any better on his desk this time around, meaning the Democrat’s bills are more about showboating and hoping the tide turns in their favor by the next gubernatorial election

But make no mistake—this flurry of anti-gun legislation is a sign of things to come. Virginia Democrats, desperate to cling to whatever scraps of power they still hold, are doubling down on the same tired gun control playbook that has failed them time and time again. With Youngkin holding firm and gun owners increasingly mobilized, it’s clear that the real battle for Virginia’s Second Amendment rights and a stand for freedom of all Virginians lies ahead on Nov. 4, 2025, when the state will elect a new governor.

As per state law, Youngkin cannot run for re-election, so at this time it looks like Abigail Spanberger, a Beltway veteran who is a former CIA spook and the architect behind many of these anti-gun laws will run for the Dems, while the current Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, a popular pro-gun Republican, is expected to run for the seat for her party. It will be interesting to see how the Democrats message their attacks on Earle-Sears, who is both a woman and black, two common attack points used by Democrats to go after typically white male candidates that won’t be available for them to use in this election.