A Los Angeles judge showed surprising leniency to an ex-con who shot and hit an LAPD helicopter with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle, explaining that while the dangerous stunt demanded prison time, the crime stemmed from drug abuse and the shooter was very polite while defending himself in court.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mildred Escobedo sentenced Douglass Byers to 12 years and eight months behind bars, rejecting prosecutors&#8217; demands for a 41-year sentence. The judge exercised her authority to throw out severe firearm enhancements, according to <a href="https://mynewsla.com/crime/2026/08/11/man-convicted-of-shooting-at-lapd-helicopter-sentenced-to-prison">MyNewsLA.com</a>.
The wild August 2025 incident <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-03-12/lapd-helicopter-shooting-trial">unfolded</a> when South L.A. residents dialed 911 over a barrage of gunfire behind a home Byers shared with his mother. Arriving officers discovered an AR-15 assault rifle, mock firearms, and 18 shell casings scattered around the property.
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An ex con convicted of using an AR-15 to shoot and hit a LAPD helicopter w/ two officers in it last year has been sentenced to just under 13 years in prison instead of 41 years asked for by the prosecution after the judge said the defendant had acted friendly during the trial,…
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) <a href="https://x.com/BillMelugin_/status/2087671585377550431?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Though police initially handcuffed Byers for negligent discharge, a post-flight inspection of an LAPD helicopter circling above revealed something far more terrifying: a high-powered bullet had punched straight through the aircraft&#8217;s tail section.
Authorities realized the round slammed within inches of vital control gear. Had the shot landed mere moments before, the chopper could have plunged into the crowded neighborhood below, putting the pilot, tactical officer, and residents in deadly peril.
Forensic teams linked the recovered casings directly to the rifle stashed in Byers’ shed. The trigger-happy felon later admitted he bought the weapon out of state and smuggled it back to California on a train, insisting he only fired it during holiday celebrations. His mother told investigators he was suffering from illness and deep paranoia leading up to the shooting, while Byers himself admitted to knocking back tequila, smoking marijuana, and using methamphetamine around the time of the chaos.
Despite facing overwhelming evidence, Byers maintained his innocence at trial, claiming he was simply too drunk to make such a shot and insisting he held no grudge against law enforcement. A jury saw right through the story, convicting him in less than an hour on charges of assault on a peace officer and firearm possession by a felon.
Prosecutor Eric Siddall vented his frustration after the sentencing, arguing that a convict who committed perjury and nearly slaughtered two officers deserved a far harsher reckoning.
But Judge Escobedo’s soft spot for the polite, self-representing gunman ensured Byers will serve only part of the maximum punishment.

Missouri State v USC

Judge Cuts Sentence by Decades For ‘Respectful’ Felon Who Shot LAPD Helicopter

Guns

helicopter

Judge

LAPD

Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed advocated abolishing the Second Amendment in favor of the “right to have health care” in a now-hidden video. 
El-Sayed hid up to 100 videos where he pushed radical policies, including getting rid of the right to bear arms and complaining about fireworks, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/11/politics/el-sayed-youtube-videos-fireworks-2nd-amendment">reported</a> Tuesday. His comments about getting rid of the Second Amendment came shortly after a transgender-identifying woman murdered six people at a Christian school in Tennessee. 
“What if we tweaked the Constitution, amended the amendment, and instead of the right to bear arms, we change it to the right to have healthcare?” he said in April 2023, according to a video viewed by CNN. He claimed that the move would lead to “fewer people dying by gun and more people living because they have healthcare.”
The hidden views come as El-Sayed faces <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dsa-whistleblower-says-hell-do-everything-he-can-to-elect-mike-rogers?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=DSA+Whistleblower+Says+He%E2%80%99ll+Do+%E2%80%98Everything+He+Can%E2%80%99+To+Elect+Mike+Rogers">an exodus</a> by some Democrats from his campaign over his extreme views and association with activists like Hasan Piker, who said America “deserved 9/11.” El-Sayed also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yes-michigans-abdul-el-sayed-really-wants-to-defund-the-police-here-are-the-receipts">deleted</a> numerous social media posts advocating to defund the police. 
In a July 2024 podcast titled, “Fireworks just aren’t worth it: hear us out,” El-Sayed argued that “fireworks suck” and said Americans should find other ways to celebrate the Fourth of July. The rant against fireworks was sponsored by the Marguerite Casey Foundation, which El-Sayed noted advocated for “feminist prison abolition.” 
El-Sayed downplayed concerns about border security as illegal crossings surged to record levels under President Joe Biden in another video flagged by CNN.
In September 2022, when illegal border crossings reached an astounding 227,000, El-Sayed said that border security “doesn’t even make the top five among issues that people in the United States actually care about that affect their lives.”
“It’s crazy to me that the party that says that they’re the party of family values can’t understand when people will make decisions for their families — because that’s exactly what these migrants are doing,” he added. 
In other resurfaced videos, El-Sayed attacked Michigan&#8217;s beloved Mackinac Island and <a href="https://x.com/Bobby_LaVallley/status/2086877217779270136">claimed</a> football was a breeding ground for “toxic masculinity.&#8221; 
&#8220;Football is very much associated with a particularly masculine and oftentimes toxically masculine culture,” he said. 
El-Sayed’s campaign claimed his views articulated in the videos don’t reflect what he believes today. 
“Abdul is the former captain of his high school football team, loves Michigan football on Saturdays, and celebrates the Fourth of July with fireworks like the next Michigander. Cherry-picked comments from old podcasts don’t reflect his beliefs today,” his campaign said. 
While attempting to distance himself from some of his past statements, El-Sayed’s campaign still includes far-Left policy positions like defending so-called “gender-affirming care” and “Medicare for all.”

MICHIGANDEMS

Abdul El-Sayed Scrubs Video Revealing Second Amendment Plans

2026 Midterms

Abdul El-Sayed

Fireworks

Health Care

Illegal Immigation

Michigan

Second Amendment

Senate

Southern Border

The civilian hero who shot back at the Idaho <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/in-n-out-gunman-identified-as-investigation-continues?author=Drew+Berkemeyer&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=In-N-Out+Gunman+Identified+After+Drive-Thru+Massacre">In-N-Out gunman Chad Williams</a> was identified over the weekend after using his self-defense training that he underwent after witnessing another mass shooting five years ago.
Jordan Salinas, 35, exited his vehicle and began returning fire on Williams when he spotted the gunman after seeing a crowd of people run out of the fast food burger chain, he told the <a href="https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/crime/article316743551.html">Idaho Statesman</a>. The Kimberly, Idaho, native said he used the military’s four-step “Observe, Orient, Decide, Act” approach to make his move during the shooting. Salinas and an off-duty police officer shot back at the assailant, causing him to flee. The gunman was later killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“He did not like it when bullets started firing both ways,” Salinas said. “There’s a task that needs to be done, and we’re the ones who need to do it.”
Salinas and his girlfriend pulled into the In-N-Out in Twin Falls, Idaho, on Saturday afternoon for lunch when they saw the chaos unfold. The man recalled feeling “no fear” as he drew his FN Five-Seven, a semi-automatic pistol with a suppressor attached to the barrel, from his shoulder holster and moved towards the sounds of bullets despite pleas from his girlfriend.
Salinas ducked between bushes and cars before identifying Williams as the gunman and firing at him with the officer. Salinas was involved in the shootout for two to three minutes before authorities arrived and he stood down.
Salinas works as a healthcare worker, where he is the full-time caregiver for his wheelchair-bound brother Michael. The two witnessed a 2021 shooting at the Boise Towne Square mall, where he began to work on his personal protection after noticing that gunmen typically go after “soft targets.” He expressed to the Idaho Statesman that a man in a wheelchair and his aide would be “as soft as they come.”
Prior to Saturday, the hero explained he hadn’t even pointed a weapon at an animal. 
Three people were killed and several others were wounded by the shooter, but Twin Falls County Sheriff Jack Johnson said the actions of Salinas and the off-duty officer &#8220;diverted the shooter and without a doubt saved many lives.”
“These people are true heroes in our community,” Johnson added.
The support for Salinas was overflowing, with his local coffee shop buying drinks on Sunday when word spread of his role in confronting the gunman.

Screenshot

Why Civilian Hero Who Fired At In-N-Out Gunman Knew He Needed Self-Defense Training

Idaho

In-N-Out Burger

Mass Shooting

According to a bombshell claim from Maine Wire Editor-in-Chief Steve Robinson, protective measures have been beefed up for people worried about revenge from supporters of Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner.
NewsNation&#8217;s Katie Pavlich amplified Robinson&#8217;s report that certain Mainers are on edge over what he dubbed &#8220;Platneristas,&#8221; writing, &#8220;Security has been increased among certain people in Maine who are afraid of who he called &#8216;Platneristas&#8217; and Platner, especially given his past and statements about violence.&#8221;
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<a href="https://x.com/SteveRob?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SteveRob</a> reports security has been increased among certain people in Maine who are afraid of who he called “Platneristas” and Platner, especially given his past and statements about violence
&mdash; Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) <a href="https://x.com/KatiePavlich/status/2074268442518040950?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The Maine Wire itself vouched for the claim, insisting on social media that the account was accurate.
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This is 100% true <a href="https://t.co/68yZgQQtq0">https://t.co/68yZgQQtq0</a>
&mdash; The Maine Wire (@TheMaineWire) <a href="https://x.com/TheMaineWire/status/2074270605659042068?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Robinson doubled down by explaining that Platner didn&#8217;t just dabble in firearms circles — he allegedly built and ran a paramilitary-style outfit stocked with hard-Left radicals.
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The guy started and trained a paramilitary org filled with left-wing extremists and revolutionaries. <a href="https://t.co/7bZCBLvaBH">https://t.co/7bZCBLvaBH</a>
&mdash; Steve Robinson (@SteveRob) <a href="https://x.com/SteveRob/status/2074334870260592976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 7, 2026</a></blockquote>
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That accusation traces back to Robinson&#8217;s <a href="https://robinsonreport.substack.com/p/ex-marine-graham-platner-taught-military">own reporting</a> from last October, when he first revealed that Platner — a Marine-turned-oyster farmer — had personally drilled members of the Socialist Rifle Association (SRA) in gun handling. Robinson <a href="https://robinsonreport.substack.com/p/new-evidence-confirms-democrat-senate?r=2fugvw&amp;utm_medium=ios&amp;triedRedirect=true">built on that scoop</a>, writing of Platner:
<blockquote>Posting under the Reddit handle “P-Hustle,” he wrote in August 2020 that his chapter ran “lots of range days, firearms education classes,” that he’d “just put on a defensive handgun course two weekends ago,” and that the group ran monthly introductory courses plus “more advanced classes for experienced members.” In a separate post, he recruited a Mainer to the chapter directly: “We’re quite active.”
On X, the far left gun club posted images from multiple training sessions showcasing members with blurred faces and an arsenal of firearms. The SRA blurs faces in the photographs, but some were insufficiently blurred — including a red-haired, red-bearded man matching Platner.</blockquote>
Platner “was teaching actual paramilitary tactics to an explicitly political, far-Left organization,” Robinson reported.
Robinson also pointed out a political irony: a bill cracking down on paramilitary-style firearms instruction sailed through Maine&#8217;s Legislature in 2024, championed by Democratic state Sen. Joe Baldacci, who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Congress in this year&#8217;s primary. Robinson noted that the law was framed around fears of Right-wing militias, even as Platner was overseeing the kind of training the statute was designed to outlaw.

Democratic Senate Candidate For Maine Graham Platner Campaigns Around The State

Inside Platner’s Far-Left Gun Network Fueling Fears Of ‘Platnerista’ Retaliation

graham platner

Maine

The Supreme Court handed gun-rights advocates a major victory Thursday, striking down Hawaii&#8217;s controversial &#8220;vampire rule&#8221; that effectively banned lawful concealed carry on most private property unless owners explicitly granted permission.
In a 6-3 decision split along ideological lines, the court ruled that Hawaii&#8217;s law violated the Second Amendment, with Justice Samuel Alito writing for the conservative majority.
The law struck down by the court created a default rule prohibiting concealed carry permit holders from bringing firearms onto private property open to the public unless the property owner affirmatively authorized firearms or posted signage allowing them. The measure effectively transformed vast swaths of public life into gun-free zones and forced lawful gun owners to obtain permission before exercising their constitutional right.
The law was dubbed the &#8220;vampire rule&#8221; by Second Amendment advocates based on classic lore that describes how vampires only enter someone&#8217;s home if they&#8217;re invited.
The case, Wolford v. Lopez, became one of the most closely watched Second Amendment disputes since the Court&#8217;s landmark 2022 decision in New York State Rifle &amp; Pistol Association v. Bruen, which established that modern firearms regulations must be consistent with the nation&#8217;s historical tradition of gun laws.
The National Rifle Association quickly hailed the ruling as a major step forward for gun rights. 
&#8220;Today, the United States Supreme Court delivered a major victory for the Second Amendment in Wolford v. Lopez,&#8221; NRA Institute for Legislative Action Executive Director John Commerford said in a <a href="https://x.com/NRA/status/2070151466623386023">statement</a>.
&#8220;Building on the NRA&#8217;s historic NYSRPA v. Bruen decision, the court struck down Hawaii&#8217;s unconstitutional restriction that treated concealed carry permit holders as second-class citizens on publicly accessible private property. Law-abiding gun owners will no longer be forced to beg for special permission simply to exercise their constitutional right to bear arms in public places.&#8221;
Commerford added that the organization views the ruling as part of a broader effort to restore Second Amendment protections nationwide. &#8220;The NRA celebrates this important win, but it is only another steppingstone in our unrelenting fight to fully restore the Second Amendment rights of all Americans nationwide,&#8221; he said.
The court&#8217;s liberal justices dissented. Justice Elena Kagan argued that Hawaii&#8217;s law closely resembled colonial and founding-era regulations that restricted carrying firearms onto private property without a landowner&#8217;s consent. &#8220;I would uphold the challenged Hawaii law,&#8221; Kagan <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-1046_nmio.pdf">wrote</a>, arguing that the modern statute was a valid analogue to historical restrictions.
According to Kagan, both the historical laws and Hawaii&#8217;s modern law operated in the same way by establishing a default prohibition that property owners could reverse. 
&#8220;The &#8216;how&#8217; is identical,&#8221; she wrote. &#8220;The new law, just like the old ones, sets a default rule against gun carry that a private landowner may reverse.&#8221;
Kagan further argued that while some colonial-era laws were focused on concerns such as poaching, they were rooted in the broader principle that armed individuals could create dangers and inconveniences on another person&#8217;s property.
The majority disagreed, concluding that Hawaii&#8217;s law lacked a sufficiently analogous historical tradition and imposed an unconstitutional burden on lawful gun owners seeking to exercise their Second Amendment rights. The ruling is expected to have implications beyond Hawaii, as several states enacted similar post-Bruen restrictions designed to limit where concealed carry permit holders could legally carry firearms.
The decision marks another significant victory for gun-rights advocates and continues the Supreme Court&#8217;s effort to apply the history-and-tradition test established in Bruen to modern firearms regulations.

Supreme Court Strikes Down ‘Vampire Rule’ In Major Win For Gun Rights

Hawaii

Supreme Court

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Controversial internet celebrity and &#8220;looksmaxxer&#8221; Clavicular avoided jail time after allegedly shooting an alligator in Florida earlier this year.
The 20-year-old livestreamer, whose real name is Braden Peters, was <a href="https://ktar.com/arizona-news/clavicular-arrested-scottsdale/5819599/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taken</a> into custody on February 7 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Peters was later charged with multiple offenses, including two felony counts, according to court records reviewed online. Clavicular faced nearly eight years in prison for the offenses, which included allegations that he shot an already-dead alligator in the Florida Everglades.
But Clav will live to mog another day, thanks to a plea deal he struck late Friday. A judge agreed to sentence Clavicular to six months&#8217; probation, during which time he must perform 30 hours of community service and complete a firearm safety course. If he serves his sentence without issue, his charges will be stricken from the record, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/us/clavicular-plea-deal-alligator-shooting.html">according</a> to the New York Times.
Clavicular rose to fame thanks to his near-constant livestreams, which broadcast every aspect of his life to the internet. Much of his content centers around &#8220;looksmaxxing,&#8221; a niche internet trend popular among young men who will go to great lengths to improve their physical appearance. &#8220;Looksmaxxers&#8221; have captivated the internet with their unique argot, a lexicon of extremely-online slang and portmanteaus of ordinary words with suffixes like &#8220;mogged&#8221; and &#8220;maxxing,&#8221; which signify embarrassment and commitment to a practice, respectively.
Clavicular has admitted to using methamphetamine to stay skinny and &#8220;bonesmashing,&#8221; a practice in which an individual lightly fractures his jaw bones, in the hope that they will heal more defined.
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During an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8qj9RNA938" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with Daily Wire host Michael Knowles, Peters said, “I do meth, yeah. Meth is very similar to … Adderall, but it’s got a little bit better psychoactive benefits … stimulants cause appetite suppression.” When pressed on why he was doing meth despite its negative effects, he replied, “I have enough willpower to be able to taper off of meth.”
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Clavicular

Probation-Maxxing: Clavicular Avoids Brutal Sentencemogging From Florida Judge

Florida

Jail

In a direct assault on the constitutional rights of law-abiding Virginians, Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger signed a sweeping package of gun control measures, including a ban on commonly owned semi-automatic firearms and standard-capacity magazines.
Spanberger signed the legislation into law on Thursday, criminalizing the purchase, sale, manufacture, and importation of the AR-15 — the most popular rifle in America — along with a wide range of semi-automatic handguns and shotguns. The National Rifle Association responded immediately, filing a state lawsuit to block these unconstitutional mandates before the ink could even dry.
“Governor Spanberger has once again proven she has no concern for the right to keep and bear arms,” the NRA <a href="https://www.nraila.org/articles/20260514/virginia-spanberger-doubles-down-on-semi-auto-ban-nra-doubles-down-on-lawsuits">stated</a>.
While the governor attempted to frame her last-minute amendments as &#8220;technical changes,&#8221; the NRA has denounced them as a transparent attempt to rebrand blatant violations of the Second Amendment.
When she campaigned for governor, Spanberger <a href="https://virginiaindependentnews.com/elections/virginia-governor-2025-spanberger-earle-sears-gun-violence-safety-legislation/#:~:text=We%20need%20to%20strengthen%20Virginia's,officers%20safe%2C”%20Spanberger%20said.">studiously avoided</a> calling for the kind of ban she just signed, saying instead, &#8220;We need to strengthen Virginia’s safe storage laws, prevent the sale of large-capacity magazines, and crack down on criminals who manufacture and possess illegal, untraceable ghost guns — efforts that would keep Virginia’s kids, families, and law enforcement officers safe.&#8221;
The NRA’s lawsuit, Santolla v. Katz, filed in the Washington County Circuit Court, argues that the bans violate the arms guarantee in Article I, Section 13 of the Virginia Constitution. Because the Virginia Supreme Court has historically interpreted this provision as parallel with the Second Amendment, the NRA contends the state is barred from prohibiting firearms and magazines that are in common use for lawful purposes.
Joining the NRA as plaintiffs are the Virginia Shooting Sports Association (VSSA), local firearm dealers, and several Virginia citizens.
In addition to the firearm and magazine bans, Spanberger signed measures that prohibit the possession of weapons in hospitals providing mental health services, raise the age to purchase certain firearms to 21, and implement restrictive &#8220;safe storage&#8221; requirements that dictate how citizens must keep arms in their own homes.
The governor’s office cited &#8220;combat use&#8221; as a justification for the ban, but the NRA reminded the commonwealth that these firearms are used daily by millions of Americans for self-defense, hunting, and competitive shooting.
As the law is set to take effect on July 1, 2026, the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action said it is prepared to pursue every legal avenue to ensure that the fundamental rights of Virginians are not trampled by a hostile executive.
Along with the state lawsuit, the NRA also filed a federal lawsuit, McDonald v. Katz, with the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation, and other individuals.

Abigail Spanberger Is Sworn In As First Female Virginia Governor

Democrat Governor Signs Sweeping Ban That Targets America’s Favorite Firearms

abigail spanberger

National Rifle Association (NRA)

Virginia

A financial giant accused of debanking a gun store is facing increasing pressure over allegations it targeted conservative customers. 
Consumers&#8217; Research, a conservative organization, launched a &#8220;woke alert&#8221; campaign targeting Capital One on Thursday. Last week, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-it-the-message-a-financial-giant-sent-to-a-gun-shop-after-blocking-payment-access?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=11&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=READ+IT%3A+The+Message+A+Financial+Giant+Sent+To+A+Gun+Shop+After+Blocking+Payment+Access">reported</a> on a lawsuit filed by a Maryland gun store suing Capital One after claiming it blocked it from using its payment platform after identifying it as participating in a “prohibited industry.”
The <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/1036217722/Filed-Melio-CapitalOne-COMPLAINT">lawsuit</a> from the Rockville-based United Gun Shop says it received messages in 2025 and 2026 from Capital One and Melio Payments suggesting that they could not work with the firearms industry. The messages came after the gun store attempted to use Capital One’s payment platform, administered by Melio Payments, for multiple business-related transactions and bill payments.
“Capital One has been caught debanking law-abiding citizens again. It apparently isn’t enough for Capital One to fund and promote racist DEI, climate activism, and extreme transgender policies; the company is also debanking its own customers simply for holding views outside leftist ideology,” Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild told The Daily Wire. 
The “woke alert” from Consumers’ Research pointed to a lawsuit filed by the Trump organization accusing Capital One of cancelling more than 300 of the company’s accounts in 2021 after President Donald Trump’s first term ended.  
This lawsuit was noted in a recent <a href="https://ir-capitalone.gcs-web.com/node/61736/html">financial filing</a> from Capital One, noting it was dealing with “a civil lawsuit filed by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust and several affiliated corporate entities against Capital One.”
Additionally, the filing noted that it was “responding to demands and requests from various federal agencies” regarding “fair access to banking,” prompted by an executive order from Trump directing “government agencies to review financial institutions’ policies and practices for providing, maintaining, or discontinuing financial products or services to certain clients or potential clients.”
Capital One is one of the nine major financial entities being <a href="https://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2025/nr-occ-2025-123.html">probed</a> by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The “woke alert” flagged other gun industry owners who complained they had services cut off by Capital One, including the owner of a silencer company, who testified that he was unable to use their banking services to sell federally regulated suppressors. 
A <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190326020509/https://www.capitalone.com/legal/corporate/terms">previous version</a> of the company’s corporate terms of service contained a provision saying that “ammunition, firearms, or firearm parts or related accessories” were prohibited payments for corporate accounts. That provision has since been removed from the <a href="https://www.capitalone.com/digital/corporate-terms/">current terms</a> of service. 
Capital One has a history of pushing corporate activism, including announcing a $200 million investment back in October 2020 into “growth in underserved communities,” <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260501160548/https:/www.capitalone.com/about/newsroom/impact-initiative-announcement/">focusing</a> on “black and Latinx” communities. 
“From law-abiding gun sellers to President Donald Trump&#8217;s own family, conservative Americans are being disgracefully treated like criminals because of Capital One&#8217;s discriminatory policies,” Hild said. “Every consumer needs to know that &#8216;woke&#8217; is what&#8217;s in Capital One&#8217;s wallet.&#8221;

Capital One Headquarters

Big Bank Caught In Conservative Crosshairs Over Gun Store Debanking Claims

Debanking Battle Heats Up After Gun Store Claims Against Capital One

Corporate America

debanking

Wokeness

Former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax took his children&#8217;s horseback riding money to purchase the gun he used to kill their mother, according to court documents.
Divorce documents <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/04/16/us-news/justin-fairfax-was-a-raging-drunk-who-bought-gun-with-kids-horseback-riding-money-before-murder-suicide-court-docs/">obtained</a> by the New York Post reveal that Fairfax purchased the handgun in 2022 — the same year he left office after sexual assault allegations had severely damaged his political career — with cash that had been set aside for his children&#8217;s horseback riding lessons. Also in that same year, “heavy daily alcohol&#8221; use became part of his normal routine.
Fairfax went from being considered “a rising star” in politics to spending his days isolated in his home office surrounded by “empty wine bottles, trash and piles of dirty laundry.” The divorce documents allege he only came out “to get food or smoke cigarettes.”
His wife, Cerina Fairfax, was in the process of getting a divorce from her self-proclaimed “deadbeat” husband. Representing himself in court, Justin did not deny any of Cerina’s allegations against him. A judge ordered Justin to leave his shared home with Cerina by April 30, but 14 days before his scheduled eviction, Fairfax <a href="https://fcpdnews.wordpress.com/2026/04/16/detectives-investigate-domestic-related-murder-suicide-in-annandale/">killed</a> his wife. 
The couple’s teenage children were home at the time, and their son placed the 911 call after Fairfax had shot his wife in the basement and had gone upstairs to shoot himself in the head. Police <a href="https://x.com/FairfaxCountyPD">responded</a> to the house in Annandale, Virginia, “shortly after midnight.”
The shooting was not Fairfax’s first troubling incident involving the weapon. In 2022, he went to a public park with the firearm and a suitcase of clothes, where he was later found by his wife and her stepfather. Fairfax said he carried the weapon for protection after losing his security detail when his term ended. Around 1 a.m., his brother arranged for a mental health professional to speak with him in the park parking lot.
The Fairfaxes had been married for over twenty years when Cerina filed for divorce in July 2025. Court documents indicate that Justin’s downward spiral accelerated after he faced sexual assault allegations in 2019. According to the New York Post, after the scandal, Fairfax <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/04/16/us-news/justin-fairfax-couldnt-find-a-job-or-even-get-legal-clients-after-sex-assault-scandal-pal-says/?utm_campaign=nypost&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter">could not</a> find a job or attract legal clients despite opening a private legal practice out of his home. Cerina worked as a dentist.
Fairfax served one term as lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022. In 2021, Fairfax ran for governor, but ultimately failed to win the Democratic primary. While Fairfax served as lieutenant governor, he pushed for gun control.

Justin Fairfax

Disgraced Democrat Used His Kids’ Money To Help Murder Their Mother

Crime

Murder

Politics

Suicide

The heroic ROTC cadets who stopped the terrorist at Old Dominion University in March described their experience beating and stabbing the attacker.
The shooter, former National Guard soldier Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, killed one and injured two in the March 12 attack, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gunman-opens-fire-injures-two-at-old-dominion-university">reported</a>. Jalloh was pronounced dead when police arrived on the scene.
“There were students that were in that room that subdued him and rendered him no longer alive,” Dominique Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Norfolk office, said at the time. “They basically were able to terminate the threat.”
Jalloh entered a classroom at Old Dominion and “nervously” asked if it was an ROTC class. Cadet Wesley Myers said Jalloh, who was previously convicted of supporting ISIS, shouted “Allahu Akbar” and opened fire on class instructor Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Shah.
Shah later <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/decorated-military-hero-idd-as-victim-of-old-dominion-terrorist-attack">died</a> from his injuries.
“I saw my instructor kinda lunge at him, and when I got under the desk, I saw them together,” Cadet Jah-Ira Utarte said. “If he didn’t lunge at him, I wouldn’t be here right now. There’s a possibility he could’ve turned his gun and I could’ve been next.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a>: For the first time, the ROTC students at Old Dominion University, who BEAT THE TERR*RIST TO DEATH WITHOUT GUNS are now telling their stories.
&#8220;He sho*ts a stray, it hits me, but I thought I could keep going&#8230; I get there and just start st*bbing him, as I&#8217;m st*bbing… <a href="https://t.co/LaMTF9Tvtv">pic.twitter.com/LaMTF9Tvtv</a>
— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) <a href="https://twitter.com/mattvanswol/status/2042684848414814572?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Cadet Louis Ancheta pulled out his pocket knife and ran up to Jalloh while Shah wrestled him.
“With my pocketknife, I open it, I run up, and as I’m running up, Colonel Shah lunges at the guy,” Ancheta said. “[Jalloh] shoots another stray, and it hits me. It really didn’t feel like it hit me. It felt like a graze. After that, I’m like, ‘I can keep on going.'&#8221;
Shah turned Jalloh around and gave Ancheta an opening to strike, the cadet said.
“I just go in there, and I start stabbing him,” Ancheta said. “As I’m stabbing him, other cadets jump in.”
Myers and Cadet Jeremy Rawlinson tried to wrest the gun away from Jalloh.
“We did what we tried to do to get the gun away from him, and he just wasn’t letting go,” Rawlinson said. “I just happened to have a knife on me at the time. Ancheta and I, we were, like, neutralizing the guy.”
As the cadets brought Jalloh to the ground, Myers wrenched away the gun, which only had one bullet left.
The cadets then switched to “combat care” to help Ancheta.
“It’s different when it’s not a mannequin, and it’s your friend,” Myers said.
The FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism. Director Kash Patel praised the cadets in a social media post March 12.
“The shooter is now deceased thanks to a group of brave students who stepped in and subdued him — actions that undoubtedly saved lives along with the quick response of law enforcement,” Patel <a href="https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/2032183663350214858?s=20">said</a>.

Old Dominion

‘I Start Stabbing Him’: Student Heroes At Old Dominion Lay Out How They Took Down A Terrorist

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This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
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Virginia gun culture is in danger thanks to <a href="https://reason.com/2026/03/11/here-are-12-bills-democrats-just-passed-to-trample-gun-rights-in-virginia/">a wave of gun control legislation</a> just passed by the state legislature. Among other bills awaiting Governor Abigail Spanberger’s signature is a so-called <a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB749">assault</a> <a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB217">weapons</a> ban that, according to the <a href="https://www.nraila.org/articles/20260315/virginia-legislature-adjourns-from-2026-session-anti-gun-bills-on-governors-desk">National Rifle Association</a>, 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 <a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB115">restrictions on concealed carry permit reciprocity</a> with other states and legislation banning adults aged 18-21 from <a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB643">possessing certain firearms</a>. 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,” <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/mar/16/ten-gun-control-bills-waiting-virginia-gov-abigail-spanbergers/">as the Washington Times put it</a>, 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, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/476409/mass-shootings-in-the-us-by-weapon-types-used/?srsltid=AfmBOooQWQ_9IS1yoXa4ENpmtwkxXZ6BqcKM5kZKHpMMOrcyHgqqYrq1">including mass shootings</a>, is <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/05/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-us/">committed with handguns</a>.
While Spanberger has not commented on these bills specifically, she openly <a href="https://abigailspanberger.com/issue/keeping-virginias-communities-safe/">supported similar measures</a> 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) <a href="https://wset.com/news/local/gun-stores-see-sales-surge-as-assault-weapons-ban-heads-to-governor-march-2026">have reacted</a> with <a href="https://www.wdbj7.com/2026/03/12/virginia-gun-shop-sees-sales-surge-ahead-possible-assault-firearms-sales-ban/">a spending spree</a>, 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 <a href="https://reason.com/2026/03/11/virginias-impending-assault-firearm-ban-is-logically-and-constitutionally-dubious/">may be legally suspect</a>; 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, <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/gun-ownership-by-state">nearly 45% of Virginians</a> live in a household with a gun, slightly higher than the 42% of Americans overall <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/08/16/for-most-u-s-gun-owners-protection-is-the-main-reason-they-own-a-gun/">who do so</a> and much higher than in most of the 10 states that have already passed bans on so-called assault weapons. Polling among Virginians <a href="https://www.roanoke.edu/news/rc_poll_politics_february_2026">has found</a> that the new gun control laws <a href="https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2026/02/26/virginia-poll-shows-widespread-disapproval-of-dems-gun-control-agenda-n1231708#google_vignette">are controversial</a>.
<a href="https://www.everytown.org/press/everytown-for-gun-safety-endorses-abigail-spanberger-former-moms-demand-action-volunteer-for-governor-of-virginia-announces-1-million-investment-in-virginia-governors-race/">Special interest groups</a> 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 <a href="http://www.americanheritage.com/content/america-gun-culture">first coined</a> in a pejorative way by the liberal historian Richard Hofstadter, this “gun culture” is very real. It <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-020-0520-6#">revolves around the reasons</a> 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 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-awkward-habit-that-pulled-me-out-of-the-loneliness-epidemic">in real life</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/gun-youtube-firearm-videos.html">online</a>.
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 <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/08/16/for-most-u-s-gun-owners-protection-is-the-main-reason-they-own-a-gun/">Pew Research found</a> 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 <a href="https://www.nssf.org/articles/since-2020-election-new-gun-owners-equal-population-of-florida/">too many more people</a> 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 <a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB207">$500 tax on suppressors</a>, a <a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB700">mandatory 5-day waiting period</a> after purchasing a firearm, <a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB919">an 11% tax on ammo</a>, and a <a href="https://x.com/lyndseyfifield/status/2033611994222236061?s=46">widely publicized</a> provision that <a href="https://www.pilotonline.com/2026/03/17/virginia-general-assembly-sends-more-than-1200-bills-to-governor-heres-what-passed/">would have exempted themselves</a> from new <a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB110">vehicle storage requirements</a>.
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.
***
Stephan Kapustka is a writer at the American Spectator. Follow him on X <a href="https://x.com/SteveKapustka">@SteveKapustka</a>.

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How New Gun Laws Could Shut The Door On Future Gun Owners

Upstream

A convicted ISIS terrorist walked into a gun-free school zone and murdered a United States Army officer. This was a targeted attack on an educator of our future military service members. But Soros-backed Commonwealth&#8217;s Attorney Ramin Fatehi just stood at a microphone and blamed lawmakers for gun violence.
Now, I sit on the Virginia House of Delegates Criminal Subcommittee of the Courts of Justice Committee. I have watched Fatehi advocate year after year for soft-on-crime policies that lead to tragedies just like this.
The real question is why was Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a felon convicted of supporting ISIS, in possession of a firearm, especially in a gun free school zone? And why was Jalloh released 3 years early on an 11-year prison stint? These are the failures of soft-on-crime politicians more interested in policing federal ICE agents that protect their own citizens.
<div id="attachment_1058949" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1058949" class="size-large wp-image-1058949" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-3.57.15-PM-1024x447.png" alt="" width="1024" height="447" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-3.57.15-PM-1024x447.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-3.57.15-PM-300x131.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-3.57.15-PM-768x335.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-3.57.15-PM-1536x671.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-3.57.15-PM.png 1576w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Screenshot: LiveNOW from FOX on YouTube</div>
That failure raises a larger question about what Virginia’s lawmakers are doing right now in Richmond.
<h3>Strangling The Second Amendment</h3>
The 2026 Virginia General Assembly session ends this week. When the gavel falls, Governor Abigail Spanberger will have on her desk a stack of gun bills unlike anything this Commonwealth has ever produced — not a single sweeping law, but a coordinated layering of restrictions designed to strangle the Second Amendment from every direction at once. Which gun you can buy. Where you can carry it. Whether the industry that makes it can survive being sued into submission. How you pass it on when you&#8217;re gone.
No single bill tells the whole story. The story is the stack — and what that stack adds up to is the systematic dismantling of our Second Amendment rights in Virginia.
<div id="attachment_548003" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-548003" class="size-large wp-image-548003" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1347535587-864x576.jpg" alt="Semi-automatic pistols for sale on display at a gun shop." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1347535587-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1347535587-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1347535587-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1347535587-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1347535587-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1347535587-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1347535587-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Zocha_K. Getty Images.</div>
<h3>What They Banned</h3>
Start with SB 749, the centerpiece. 
It criminalizes the import, sale, manufacture, purchase, and transfer of so-called &#8220;assault firearms&#8221; — semi-automatic centerfire rifles, pistols, and shotguns identified not by how they function, but by how they look. A folding stock. A pistol grip. A threaded barrel. Cosmetic features that have no bearing on rate of fire. The identical firearm with a wooden stock is legal. The one with a synthetic pistol grip is contraband after July 1. Firearms you already own before that date are grandfathered for possession — but you cannot sell them to another Virginian. You can sell to a dealer or transfer them out of state (but that’s a federal Class 5 Felony). And how does a family who wishes to move to Virginia with their firearms – are they not “importing” assault firearms? You can pass them by inheritance to family. Beyond that, your grandfathered rifle is a dead-end asset.
The magazine provision is worse.
SB 749 also bans the import, sale, transfer, or purchase of any magazine capable of holding more than 15 rounds. Possession of magazines you already own is not criminalized — but you cannot sell them or transfer them to any other Virginian under any circumstances. The only lawful exits for a grandfathered magazine are surrender to a federally licensed dealer or transfer out of state. Notably, while the bill creates an explicit inheritance exception for grandfathered firearms, it creates no parallel exception for grandfathered magazines. A son can inherit his father&#8217;s rifle under this bill. The 15+ round magazines that feed it are a different matter — there is no provision in the final enrolled text that permits passing them to an heir within Virginia. What you own today is frozen in place, and the law has made no arrangement for what happens to it when you are gone.
Background check data tells you what Virginians think about this: adjusted NICS checks in February 2026 jumped 55 percent over February 2025 as gun owners raced to the counters before the deadline.
<div id="attachment_65181" style="width: 973px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-65181" class="size-full wp-image-65181" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2019/11/Remington.jpg" alt="STOKESDALE, NC - MARCH 26: A Remington 700 hunting rifle, a Remington 1100 shotgun and a Remington R1 Enhanced model 1911 pistol are seen for sale at Atlantic Outdoors gun shop on March 26, 2018 in Stokesdale, North Carolina. Founded in 1816, Remington is one of America's oldest gun and ammunition manufacturers which now has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection partially due to an estimated $950 million in debt." width="963" height="645" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2019/11/Remington.jpg 963w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2019/11/Remington-300x201.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2019/11/Remington-768x514.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 963px) 100vw, 963px" />Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images</div>
<h3>What They Banned You From Carrying</h3>
The ban on future purchases was not enough. SB 727 — passed both chambers and headed to the Governor — prohibits carrying these same broadly defined &#8220;assault firearms&#8221; on any public street, road, alley, sidewalk, right-of-way, or park. The bill strips concealed handgun permit holders of any exemption, even though those permit holders have carried legally for years without incident.
The practical effect in much of Virginia — in the rural Southwest, in the Shenandoah Valley, in communities where the nearest deputy might be thirty minutes away — is that the firearm most commonly chosen for home and property defense can no longer lawfully accompany you beyond your front door.
<h3>What They Did to the Industry</h3>
SB 27 and HB 21 gut the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act at the state level. They create a Virginia cause of action against firearms manufacturers, distributors, and retailers based on a vague &#8220;responsible conduct&#8221; standard. There is no clear definition of what responsible conduct requires — which is the point. Ambiguity is the weapon. The goal is not to compensate real victims. It is to make the cost of doing business in Virginia high enough that manufacturers and dealers either comply with whatever standard the next attorney general invents or exit the market entirely. You cannot exercise a right the industry has been sued out of existence.
<h3>What They Did to Home Gunsmiths</h3>
HB 40 makes building, importing, selling, transferring, or possessing an unserialized firearm, including pieces of an unassembled build, a Class 5 felony — punishable by up to ten years in prison. The bill reaches unfinished frames and receivers. Home gunsmithing has a tradition in this country as old as the Republic itself. Under HB 40, it would now be a felony in Virginia.
<h3>The Layer They Almost Added</h3>
Several additional bills survived crossover before stalling or being amended in the final days. A permit-to-purchase scheme would have required Virginians to obtain a government-issued license from the State Police before buying a handgun. Who knows what kind of barriers they could create in the name of “safety.” A vehicle storage bill would have criminalized a firearm left in a car under vague standards. A public carry ban on the House side mirrored SB 727 with even broader definitions. An age prohibition would have barred adults under 21 from purchasing handguns or assault firearms entirely.
Some of these did not survive in their original form. Others will return. The direction of travel is not ambiguous. I’ve been here long enough to see them again and again from the relentless Left.
<div id="attachment_372227" style="width: 1000px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-372227" class="size-large wp-image-372227" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/Gun-Shop-990x576.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, USA - MARCH 17: Weapons on display at a gun shop in Washington, DC, United States as gun and ammunition sales in the U.S. have skyrocketed as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic spread across the country." width="990" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/Gun-Shop-990x576.jpg 990w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/Gun-Shop-300x175.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/Gun-Shop-768x447.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/Gun-Shop.jpg 1012w" sizes=" (max-width: 990px) 100vw, 990px" />Yasin Ozturk / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</div>
<h3>What This Actually Is</h3>
Consider the cumulative picture. You cannot purchase the most popular class of semi-automatic firearms in America after July 1. Magazines over 15 rounds are contraband — you can keep what you have, but can barely use what is now monetarily valueless. You cannot carry these firearms publicly even with a concealed handgun permit. The dealer who sells them faces open-ended civil liability under a standard no one can define. The manufacturer who builds them faces the same. Home building is a felony. It is a complete dismantling of the firearms industry. Death by a thousand tiny, deceitful infringements on our constitutional rights.
At what point does regulation become intentionally burdensome to the detriment of an industry the controlling party despises? Take fossil fuels, for example. How many green energy policies can you put on a coal-fired power generation plant before it’s no longer economically feasible to continue operation? At what point does the layering of burden after burden, and infringement after infringement, become a weaponized strategy rather than a policy choice?
House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore warned on the floor that banning firearms in common use among millions of law-abiding Americans invites a constitutional reckoning. He is right. Gun rights organizations have already promised litigation the moment Spanberger signs the bill into law.
In the meantime, Virginians who did nothing wrong — they bought their rifles legally, they hold concealed handgun permits, they have never committed a crime in their lives — are watching their God-given constitutional rights be stripped away layer by layer by a majority that answers to Northern Virginia.
That is the arithmetic of 2025&#8217;s election results. Governor Spanberger is expected to sign. When she does, every Virginian in every competitive district — every community that believed a Democratic majority in the House, Senate, and the Governor’s Mansion would exercise any restraint — should ask a simple question: Is this what you voted for?
Sure, Democrats aren’t “coming for your guns.”
They’re just making sure they are rendered completely useless under the law.
* * *
Del. Wren Williams represents Virginia&#8217;s 47th House District (Patrick County and surrounding area). He is an attorney and a member of the House Republican Caucus.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Abigail Spanberger Sworn In As Virginia Governor

Virginia’s Gun Crackdown Ignores The Real Failure: Releasing An ISIS-Linked Felon

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