by Ben Whedon
The Department of Justice on Wednesday sued the Commonwealth of Virginia over its recently approved assault weapons ban, asserting that the Second Amendment barred such restrictions.
Virginia is one of a handful of states that have enacted such restrictions on the commonly owned semiautomatic rifles.
“In summary, SB749 infringes the right of law-abiding Virginians to purchase and sell AR-15 style rifles and therefore violates the Second Amendment,” the suit reads. Thus, Defendants have acted and will continue to act in blatant disregard of the constitutional rights of the citizens of Virginia.”
The filing came one day after the Supreme Court agreed to hear challenges to AR-15 bans in Connecticut and Illinois.
In May of this year, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon spoke to “Just the News, No Noise” and predicted that the Supreme Court would ultimately rule that AR-15s are constitutionally protected.
“We intend to make sure they do that,” she said at the time.
Dhillon also said she “promised” Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger that the DOJ would sue Virginia if “she signed this unconstitutional weapons ban into law.”
“Law-abiding Americans should not have to live under threat of criminal sanction for simply exercising their Second Amendment right to possess arms owned by millions of their fellow citizens,” she added.
The Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that it will hear a case next session that challenges AR-15 gun bans.
Also on Wednesday, the DOJ said it would sue California over its Glock ban.
“The Second Amendment is a sacred right belonging to all Americans, even those in California. California cannot ban the most popular type of handgun in America,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “We will work to stop this blatant trampling of our rights by the California government to protect the rights of lawful gun owners.”
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Ben Whedon is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
