virginia citizens defense league

Defending Your Right to Defend Yourself

va-alert

Published 1/9/2026

VCDL’s Legislative Tracking Tool (LTT) is up and running! The LTT allows you to quickly and easily track all gun bills during the 2026 General Assembly session:  https://vcdl-lis.org/.

Check the LTT frequently as it is being updated almost daily as new bills are being introduced. The LTT will also update frequently during the General Assembly session, which starts on January 14, as bills are being processed.

Here, are the gun bills that have been filed since the last legislative update on 1/6.  These bills include an “assault weapon” and magazine ban (HB 217), restrictions on reciprocity with other states (SB 115), and a $500 tax on suppressors (HB 207):

Bills VCDL Strongly Opposes

SB 27, Senator Carroll Foy, allows a highly regulated industry, the firearms industry, to be sued civilly for a variety of already illegal actions. It also holds the manufacturers and sellers of even the most benign of firearm accessories, like a butt stock or a gun case, liable to a civil lawsuit if it doesn’t “properly” protect that item from theft or misuse by a criminal! How could a firearm accessory seller reasonably know if they were selling a gun sling or a holster to a prohibited person? If an automobile parts store sells a seat cover to a driver who subsequently drives drunk and kills a family, it would make no sense to allow the store and the seat cover manufacturer to be sued. This bill is designed to have a chilling effect on all aspects of the firearms industry and nothing else.

HB 110, Delegate Laufer, creates a $500 civil penalty and subjects a vehicle to towing if a person leaves a visible handgun in an unattended vehicle.  The car owner should not be at fault even if a criminal opens an unlocked car door to steal a firearm. It is the criminal who is solely to blame. This bill would put a handgun in the possession of, and under the control of, a tow truck company! Punish criminals and stop harassing good people.

HB 93, Delegate Bennett-Parker, requires a person with a protective order against them or a person with a domestic violence conviction to surrender, sell, or turn their guns over to someone 21-years-old or older and someone who does not live with them. It requires the person to be advised that if a police officer believes they have not turned over all their guns, that the officer can get a search warrant to look for any such guns.  There are multiple problems with the bill as written. If a husband and wife co-own a shotgun for home defense, for example, and the husband gets a protective order issued against him, the wife would no longer have access to that co-owned shotgun. That punishes the wife and needlessly endangers her life. There is also the question of not allowing a person 18 to 20-years-old to retain the guns. A person in that age range can legally possess rifles, shotguns, and handguns. Young adults should be able to hold the guns.

HB 110, Delegate Laufer, creates a $500 civil penalty and subjects a vehicle to towing if a person leaves a visible handgun in an unattended vehicle.  The car owner should not be at fault even if a criminal opens an unlocked car door to steal a firearm. It is the criminal who is solely to blame. This bill would put a handgun in the possession of, and under the control of, a tow truck company! Punish criminals and stop harassing good people.

SB 115, Senator Pekarsky, severely restricts concealed handgun permit recognition with other states.  Currently, Virginia honors permits from all other states, which, in turn, allows Virginians to be able to carry in most of those states. Virginia residents may not use a permit from another state to carry in Virginia. They must have a Virginia permit.  Permit holders from other states have been peacefully carrying in Virginia for years.  This bill is an unjust and demeaning slap in the face to law-abiding Virginia gun owners, as it will reduce the number of states where a Virginia permit holder can carry a handgun for self-defense. This bill makes Virginians who are traveling less safe! It will also discourage gun owners outside of Virginia from visiting the Commonwealth, effecting the state’s economy. This bill is a solution in search of a problem

HB 207, Delegate Keys-Gamarra, creates a $500 tax on suppressors.  The last case of a legally owned suppressor being used in a crime in Virginia was back in 2019 in a Virginia Beach “gun-free zone.” Suppressors don’t eliminate a gun’s sound. They merely lower the sound to a more hearing-safe level. They reduce a sound-level as loud as a jet plane taking off down to the sound-level of a jackhammer. The reduced sound-level is more neighbor-friendly when target shooting. Suppressors also protect a hunter’s hearing. Some suppressors are priced around $300, so this would be a 160% tax! What exactly does such a high tax achieve, other than purposely pricing poor people out of the market, discouraging target shooters from reducing the sound-level heard by neighbors, or making it harder for a hunter to protect his hearing?

HB 217, Delegate Helmer, prohibits the sale, possession, transfer, and transport of an “assault firearm” made on or after July 1, 2026. It also prohibits sale, possession, transfer, and transport of an “assault firearm” to anyone under the age of 21. Magazines that hold more than 10 rounds and were made on or after July 1, 2026, are prohibited.  The U.S. Supreme Court has said in both DC v Heller, and recently The New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v Bruen, that any firearm “in common use” is protected by the Second Amendment. The guns and magazines targeted by this bill are among the most common guns and magazines in the United States, making this bill unconstitutional. There are conservatively estimated to be over 20 million AR-15s and 700 million magazines that hold more than 10 rounds in civilian hands.

HB 229, Delegate Hernandez, prohibits firearms, or knives with a blade longer than 3.5 inches, in facilities that provide mental health services or developmental services, including hospitals, emergency departments, or emergency medical care facilities, if they offer such services.  Disarming visitors and guests, including concealed handgun permit holders, at such facilities violates their right to protect themselves in an emergency. A U.S. District Court in the 2nd Circuit has restrained enforcement of just such a law for being unconstitutional under New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v Bruen Supreme Court ruling.

Bills VCDL Opposes

SB 109, Senator Pekarsky, requires schools to notify parents by text and on the school’s website, within 30-days of the start of school, that the parents are responsible for making sure they have secured their firearms from their children, as required under 18.2-56.2.  This bill leaves it up to school boards to come up with their own wording, and that leaves the warnings subject to anti-gun mischief – such as discouraging gun ownership by the parents.