Virginia Citizens Defense league

Defending Your Right to Defend Yourself

va-alert-Legislative Update

Published 3/14/2026

VCDL Legislative Update 3/14/26

The General Assembly session has ended, and more gun bills are on their way to the Governor’s desk, including an “assault firearm” ban; “assault firearms” carry restrictions; restrictions on gun purchases by 18, 19, and 20-year-olds; reciprocity restrictions; and requirements for the storage of guns in unattended vehicles.

If you haven’t yet sent an email to the Governor urging her not to sign gun-control bills, you can do so by clicking here.

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The next Legislative Updates will come out whenever the Governor acts on any of the gun bills on her desk, which she will do between now and mid-April.

These gun-control bills have passed both bodies between March 7 and March 14 and are now on their way to the Governor’s desk

HB 110, Delegate Laufer, requires a handgun to be placed out of plain view and stored in a locked hard-sided container. The container may be attached to the vehicle’s interior by a steel cable or a bolt. A locked glove box and a locked console can be used to store a gun. If a stolen handgun is reported to law enforcement within 48 hours, the potential charge for failing to secure the handgun under this code section is waived. 

Storing guns in a locked trunk should not also require the guns to be placed in a locked, hard-sided container.

SB 115, Senator Pekarsky, severely restricts concealed handgun permit reciprocity 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 217, Delegate Helmer, prohibits the import, sale, manufacture, transfer, and purchase of an “assault firearm” on or after July 1, 2026. “Assault firearms” possessed before July 1, 2026, are grandfathered and may be possessed, carried, and transported. Handguns now must have two of the cosmetic features to be considered an “assault firearm,” not including the removable magazine. Long guns only need one of the cosmetic features. The prohibition on the possession and transport of a handgun or an “assault firearm” by anyone under the age of 21 has been changed to anyone under the age of 18. Maximum magazine capacity has been increased from 10 to 15 rounds. Magazines that hold more than 15 rounds and were made before July 1, 2026, are now grandfathered and can be possessed, transported, and carried, but not sold or purchased. 

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 millions of magazines that hold more than 15 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 2^nd 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.

SB 323, Senator Ebbin, makes unfinished firearm frames and receivers and un-serialized commercially made firearms unlawful to possess, purchase, sell, or transfer unless they are serialized. Un-serialized firearms made before 1968 are exempt. Making new unserialized firearm becomes illegal on January 1, 2027. It will become illegal to possess existing unserialized firearms on July 1, 2027. 

Even a chunk of aluminum, if sold to the public to become a frame or receiver once completed, must be serialized under this bill. The bill doesn’t grandfather existing homemade firearms. This bill is unconstitutional, as there was no analog in the history or traditions of firearms with any such limitations at the time the Bill of Rights was adopted. Homemade guns have been legal since before the United States existed. And, of course, government, our servant, exempts itself from all this foolishness.

SB 364, Senator Carroll Foy, directs the Virginia State Police to create a workgroup to study “firearms violence.” 

The workgroup would only be targeting violence committed using firearms and ignoring the root causes of crime, as well as all the other ways violence is inflicted on victims – knives, blunt objects, hands and feet, etc.  Half of violent crimes are not committed with a firearm!  The workgroup consists of relevant stakeholders, including gun-control advocates, but not gun-rights advocates. The gun-control advocates will undoubtedly blame guns and not criminals for violence and push for yet more gun control.

SB 496, Senator Marsden, requires a handgun to be placed out of plain view in a locked hard-sided container. The container may be attached to the vehicle’s interior by a steel cable or a bolt. A locked glove box and a locked console can be used to store a gun. If a stolen handgun is reported to law enforcement within 48 hours, the potential charge for failing to secure the handgun under this code section is waived. 

Storing guns in a locked trunk should not also require the guns to be placed in a locked, hard-sided container.

SB 643, Senator Surovell, prohibits 18, 19, and 20-year-olds from purchasing a handgun or “assault firearm” anywhere in the Commonwealth. The definition of “assault firearm” is “any (i) semi-automatic centerfire rifle or handgun that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material and is equipped at the time of the offense with a magazine that will hold more than 20 rounds of ammunition or designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer or equipped with a folding stock or (ii) shotgun with a magazine that will hold more than seven rounds of the longest ammunition for which it is chambered.” 

Eliminating the purchase of handguns or “assault firearms” by young adults is unconstitutional.

SB 749, Senator Salim, prohibits the import, sale, manufacture, transfer, and purchase of an “assault firearm” on or after July 1, 2026. “Assault firearms” possessed before July 1, 2026, are grandfathered and may be possessed, carried, and transported. Handguns now must have two of the cosmetic features to be considered an “assault firearm,” not including the removable magazine. Long guns only need one of the cosmetic features. The prohibition on the possession and transport of a handgun or an “assault firearm” by anyone under the age of 21 has been changed to anyone under the age of 18. Maximum magazine capacity has been increased from 10 to 15 rounds. Magazines that hold more than 15 rounds and were made before July 1, 2026, are now grandfathered and can be possessed, transported, and carried, but not sold or purchased. 

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 millions of magazines that hold more than 15 rounds in civilian hands.

HB 969, Delegate Price, directs the Virginia State Police to create a workgroup to study “firearms violence.” 

The workgroup would only be targeting violence committed using firearms and ignoring the root causes of crime, as well as all the other ways violence is inflicted on victims – knives, blunt objects, hands and feet, etc.  Half of violent crimes are not committed with a firearm!  The workgroup consists of relevant stakeholders, including gun-control advocates, but not gun-rights advocates. The gun-control advocates will undoubtedly blame guns and not criminals for violence and push for yet more gun control.

HB 1015, Delegate Tran, prohibits a person convicted of a misdemeanor assault and battery hate crime from being able to possess firearms. 

Misdemeanors should never take away a person’s civil rights.

HB 1524, Delegate McGuire, prohibits the carry of certain loaded semi-automatic rifles, handguns, and shotguns on any public street, road, alley, sidewalk, public right-of-way, or in any public park or any other place of whatever nature that is open to the public in the Commonwealth. There is no exemption for CHP holders. This law used to only apply to the cities of Alexandria, Chesapeake, Fairfax, Falls Church, Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond, or Virginia Beach and the Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Henrico, Loudoun, or Prince William. 

This expansion of the prohibition on the carry of certain firearms in public is a solution in search of a problem and unconstitutional under Bruen.

HB 1525, Delegate McGuire, prohibits 18, 19, and 20-year-olds from purchasing a handgun or “assault firearm” anywhere in the Commonwealth. The definition of “assault firearm” is “any (i) semi-automatic centerfire rifle or handgun that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material and is equipped at the time of the offense with a magazine that will hold more than 20 rounds of ammunition or designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer or equipped with a folding stock or (ii) shotgun with a magazine that will hold more than seven rounds of the longest ammunition for which it is chambered.”  Eliminating the purchase of handguns or “assault firearms” by young adults is unconstitutional.

The status of this bill changed from STRONGLY OPPOSED to NEUTRAL with updated wording in the final bill:

HB 916, Delegate Lopez, changes the concealed handgun permit training requirements to replace “2. Completing any National Rifle Association or United States Concealed Carry Association firearms safety or training course;” with a more general, “2. Completing a handgun shooting class or course that teaches (i) efficient, effective, and responsible use of a concealed handgun for self-defense outside the home; (ii) state laws pertaining to handguns; and (iii) proper handgun storage techniques;”