Justice Department sues Virginia and California over gun bans
Justice Department lawsuits in Virginia and California put two state gun regimes on the defensive, targeting a rifle ban in one and Glock restrictions in the other.
The Justice Department sued Virginia and California on Wednesday, launching twin Second Amendment challenges that put two sharply different state gun laws under federal attack. One case targets Virginia’s new ban on the purchase and sale of ordinary semiautomatic rifles; the other seeks to stop California’s Glock Ban and its Handgun Roster, which limits which firearms people may lawfully buy.
In Virginia, the department named the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Virginia State Police, arguing the new law unlawfully blocks weapons owned by millions of Americans. The suit lands after a Virginia judge already granted a preliminary injunction on June 25, stopping state police from enforcing the ban before its planned July 1 effective date. That earlier ruling means the state law was already on hold when the federal challenge was filed.
The California case takes aim at a different slice of the market. The state's newly enacted Glock Ban would halt retail sales of common handguns made by Glock and guns with similar firing mechanisms, and the department is also seeking to block enforcement of the Handgun Roster. California's law targets the most popular type of handgun in America, a class of firearms that is widely owned and sold.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said California cannot ban the most popular type of handgun in America. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the Civil Rights Division would defend law-abiding citizens from unconstitutional state gun regulation. Recent Supreme Court rulings reaffirmed that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to carry handguns outside the home for self-defense.
Virginia’s law focuses on semiautomatic rifles, while California’s measure targets striker-fired handguns and the state roster that governs lawful retail purchases.
In March 2025, the department announced a Second Amendment pattern-or-practice investigation into the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
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