Abigail Spanberger Just Made Virginia's 'Assault Weapons' Ban Much, Much Worse

Law-abiding citizens of Virginia have been on pins and needles these past few days waiting to see how Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) would handle a bill that had been sitting on her desk for a month that would ban the purchase of certain "assault firearms."

There was a hard deadline of 11:59 p.m. Monday for her to take action. She had several options: sign it, veto it, send it back to the General Assembly with suggested amendments, or simply do nothing, which would allow it to become law without her signature.

Considering "Grabby Abby" Spanberger had happily voted in favor of assault weapons bans during her time in Congress, it seemed likely that she would ink this bill into law without a second thought. However, there was one big mitigating factor hanging over her: the April 21 referendum on whether or not to allow Virginia Democrats to gerrymander Republicans out of four of the five congressional seats they currently hold – and some signs are pointing to the vote not going the Democrats' way.

Spanberger Is Cratering Fast: New Numbers Show Virginia Voters Sour on Democrat Governor

Signing a bill disallowing Virginians from purchasing, selling, manufacturing, and transferring "assault firearms" and certain ammunition feeding devices – Virginians who, by the way, aren't too happy with her job performance not even three months into her administration – would very likely send hordes of angry voters to the polls next week to vote against the Spanberger-backed gerrymander effort. (And that may still happen.)

So, what did "Grabigail" Spanberger do instead? At the stroke of midnight, she declined to sign the bill and, instead, sent it back to the General Assembly with suggested amendments. Unsurprisingly, her suggestions, if adopted, would make things infinitely worse for Virginia gun owners.

Republican Delegate Wren Williams described what just happened in a detailed X article:

What the original bill did:
Banned the import, sale, manufacture, purchase, or transfer of assault firearms. Class 1 misdemeanor.
What the Governor's substitute does:
Keeps the ban but dramatically expands the definition of "assault firearm." Under the substitute, the term now covers:
Semi-automatic rifles with a detachable magazine plus any one of the following features: folding stock, pistol grip, thumbhole stock, grenade launcher, flare launcher, silencer, flash suppressor, or forward pistol grip
Semi-automatic pistols with two or more listed features
Semi-automatic shotguns
Belt-fed firearms
The substitute also bans magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds — lower than the 20-round threshold in current law.

So, she kicks the can down the road in the hopes it will help her flagging gerrymander efforts. And law-abiding citizens are likely to be rewarded with ever harsher restrictions and penalties.

Unfortunately, the news out of Virginia gets even worse. Spanberger may have delayed dealing with the "assault weapons" ban for now, but she's already signed into law several pieces of legislation that make the Second Amendment weep. Here's our friend Cam Edwards over at Bearing Arms:

Among the bills she did sign into law are HB 21 and SB 27, which are meant to make it easier to sue firearm industry members for the criminal misuse of their products; HB 40, which bans the manufacture and possession of "plastic firearms", unfinished frames and receivers, and unserialized firearms; and HB 110, which imposes a $500 fine and potential towing of any vehicle when someone leaves a firearm visible from outside.

This is bad. Very, very bad.

Public school admins can now file red flag warnings against parents who cause a fuss in school about their kids and indoctrination… throw up a gun warning. Instant nightmare. https://t.co/PPhNmCWKRl
— NOVA Campaigns (@NoVA_Campaigns) April 14, 2026

Luckily for Virginia, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who runs the Department of Justice's civil rights division, signaled on Friday that she was watching Spanberger's actions very closely and indicated she had a team of Second Amendment lawyers on standby, ready to sue Virginia.

By the way, I did a podcast yesterday on Spanberger's gun grab. You can watch it here:

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

Help us continue to report on and expose the Democrats’ gun control policies and schemes. Join RedState and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.