Goochland prosecutor won’t enforce Virginia’s new assault firearm ban

Goochland County Commonwealth’s Attorney John L. Lumpkins Jr. said he will not prosecute violations of Virginia’s new assault-firearm ban or its public carry restrictions, arguing the measure is unconstitutional. His refusal makes him the seventh commonwealth’s attorney in Virginia to publicly take that stance, and it puts Goochland squarely in the middle of a state-level fight with immediate local consequences.

For Goochland gun owners, the decision does not change what the law says. Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed the ban on May 14, and it is scheduled to take effect on July 1. Once it does, the statute bars the future sale, purchase, importation, manufacture and transfer of certain semiautomatic firearms and magazines holding more than 15 rounds. People who already owned covered firearms and magazines before July 1 may keep them. A violation is a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500, and a conviction also carries a three-year firearms disability.

The practical effect of Lumpkins’ refusal is narrower than the law itself. It means the Goochland County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office will not be the office seeking criminal charges for these violations, even though that office works in concert with the Goochland County Sheriff’s Office, Virginia State Police and other law-enforcement agencies. Steven Creasey, Goochland’s sheriff, is among the officials named in a federal challenge to the law, underscoring how quickly a political dispute has become an operational one for deputies, troopers and prosecutors who would normally coordinate on local cases.

The legal clash is already moving through the courts. McDonald v. Katz was filed May 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division, naming Lumpkins, Creasey, Virginia State Police Superintendent Col. Jeffrey Katz, Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth and Prince William County Sheriff Glendell Hill as defendants. Gun-rights groups including the Firearms Policy Coalition, the National Rifle Association of America and the Second Amendment Foundation have been pushing litigation to block or narrow the law before it takes effect.

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones has said he expects prosecutors to enforce the statute, leaving local commonwealth’s attorneys in open conflict with the state’s top lawyer. In counties from Pulaski and Powhatan to Spotsylvania, Warren and Goochland, several conservative prosecutors have said they will not enforce at least some parts of the new restrictions. For Goochland residents, the result is a law that still governs conduct on the books, while the county’s chief prosecutor signals he will not help carry it out in court.