The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit last week challenging Virginia's newly enacted "assault weapon" ban and California's restrictions on selling certain handguns, including Glock pistols. The lawsuit argues that both laws violate the Second Amendment by prohibiting arms that are in common use for lawful purposes such as self-defense.

Virginia's law, signed by Abigail Spanberger on April 13, criminalizes the manufacture, import, sale, purchase, or transfer of "assault firearms." The law defines this category to include semiautomatic center-fire rifles with detachable magazines and any of five features such as folding stocks, pistol grips, grenade launchers, or threaded barrels. This definition covers popular firearms like AR-15-style rifles, which the National Shooting Sports Foundation reported Americans own more than 32 million of.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, representing the Justice Department, argues that Virginia cannot meet the burden set by the Supreme Court's 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen to justify the ban. Dhillon also notes that AR-15-style rifles are "not commonly used by criminals," citing FBI data from 2019 showing only 364 homicides committed with rifles compared to thousands with handguns and other weapons.

The lawsuit also challenges California's restrictions that make it illegal to sell handguns commonly sold in other states, including Glock pistols, which held nearly 65% of the U.S. handgun market as of 2020. Dhillon contends that there is no historical tradition analogous to banning such commonly used weapons, making California's laws unconstitutional under the Bruen test. She asserts that these provisions prevent residents from acquiring "state-of-the-art handguns for self-defense."

The Justice Department's challenge raises issues the Supreme Court recently agreed to address in cases involving similar firearm restrictions.

Sources