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Virginia gun culture is in danger thanks to a wave of gun control legislation just passed by the state legislature. Among other bills awaiting Governor Abigail Spanberger’s signature is a so-called assault weapons ban that, according to the National Rifle Association, would “prohibit the future sale and transfer of virtually all modern firearms.”
While a provocative statement, it’s not incorrect. The crown jewel bill of Virginia Democrats’ crown jewel cause would ban the sale and importation of “assault firearms,” which is broadly defined as encompassing any centerfire rifle with a detachable magazine and one of several common features, such as a pistol grip, a collapsible stock, or a threaded barrel. Effectively, this covers all modern rifles chambered in something larger than 22LR, including commonly owned civilian rifles like the AR-15 and AK-47. It also bans the sale and importation of so-called high-capacity magazines — defined as having a capacity of over 15 rounds.
Other bills awaiting Spanberger’s assent include restrictions on concealed carry permit reciprocity with other states and legislation banning adults aged 18-21 from possessing certain firearms. Notably, there’s no grandfather clause, so any such young adults who legally purchased such firearms would become criminals overnight.
Collectively, these laws are “some of the nation’s most stringent restrictions on guns,” as the Washington Times put it, and are a massive change from Virginia’s status quo. It goes without saying that these laws are unlikely to be effective at addressing crime, namely because the vast majority of gun violence, including mass shootings, is committed with handguns.
While Spanberger has not commented on these bills specifically, she openly supported similar measures during her campaign and is widely expected to sign them. Assuming she does, the new laws will take effect on July 1, 2026. Predictably, Virginians (including yours truly) have reacted with a spending spree, since any firearms purchased before then will be “grandfathered” in, as the proposed legislation doesn’t ban possession. Absent a major surprise, in several months, Virginia’s gun laws will look much more like my home state of Connecticut than they will like the commonwealth I moved to several years ago.
There is speculation that the assault weapons ban in particular may be legally suspect; I’ll leave brighter minds than mine to consider that. I’m concerned with another question: Why are Democrats going through the trouble of doing this? After all, nearly 45% of Virginians live in a household with a gun, slightly higher than the 42% of Americans overall who do so and much higher than in most of the 10 states that have already passed bans on so-called assault weapons. Polling among Virginians has found that the new gun control laws are controversial.
Special interest groups are a common answer, and not entirely the wrong one. But while the new laws might seem senseless, they do have a real purpose beyond making liberals feel better. Being a gun owner isn’t just about owning a gun: There is a distinctive set of norms and values that come along with it.
While it was first coined in a pejorative way by the liberal historian Richard Hofstadter, this “gun culture” is very real. It revolves around the reasons people buy guns in the first place — be it target shooting, hunting, self-defense, or a belief in the necessity of an armed citizenry. Like with anything else, guns are often a vector for community in real life and online.
While gun owners are not a political monolith, it’s easy to see why they’re disproportionately conservative. Gun ownership isn’t necessarily partisan, but it does necessarily invoke principles such as self-sufficiency and individualism that tend to point people in that direction.
That is what Virginia Democrats really have a problem with. Gun ownership carries along with it a set of norms and values that are, in their view, icky and low-class. It’s no wonder, then, that Pew Research found that 60% of Democrats who don’t currently own a gun could never see themselves having one; among Republicans, that figure was just 38%. And even among those who owned guns, Democrats consistently expressed more negative feelings about them than Republicans.
While the growth of Northern Virginia and the Richmond suburbs has given the state a blue tint, there are still a lot of conservatives and a lot of gun owners in Virginia. Slamming the door shut on potential future firearm enthusiasts minimizes the chance too many more people are introduced to and get passionate about their Second Amendment rights.
Democrats did back off on some of the more outlandish parts of the bill. Among other things, these included a $500 tax on suppressors, a mandatory 5-day waiting period after purchasing a firearm, an 11% tax on ammo, and a widely publicized provision that would have exempted themselves from new vehicle storage requirements.
Still, absent a court ex machina, the Old Dominion is set to shift decisively to the blue state model of gun ownership. For those of us who have already gotten our guns, we’ll still have them. But for those Virginians who might wish to exercise their gun rights after July 1, well, too bad.
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Stephan Kapustka is a writer at the American Spectator. Follow him on X @SteveKapustka.
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