Virginia Sued Over Assault Weapon, High-Capacity Magazine Bans

A new Virginia law banning the importation, manufacturing, sale, purchase, and transfer of semiautomatic firearms and high-capacity magazines violates the Second Amendment , a new lawsuit says.

The National Rifle Association joined two Virginia residents and other Second Amendment advocates in a suit filed Thursday against state officials in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The law was signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) earlier that day.

The plaintiffs want the provisions declared unconstitutional permanently enjoined; they acknowledged that current precedent from the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit precludes this result, but said those decisions were inconsistent with the US Supreme Court’s latest Second Amendment rulings.

Semiautomatic firearms traditionally have been accepted as lawful and are in common use, the plaintiffs said. That includes AR-15 rifles, which are among the most popular firearms in the country.

These and other banned semiautomatic firearms aren’t machine guns, since they fire only one round for each pull of the trigger, and are used for lawful purposes such as self-defense, the plaintiffs said.

They are, in all respects, ordinary firearms and “cannot be banned because they are not dangerous and unusual,” the plaintiffs said.

The magazine ban applies to large-capacity devices that can accept more than 15 rounds of ammunition. These are normal magazines of standard capacity, according to the plaintiffs, and are in regular use nationwide.

“There is no historical tradition of prohibiting the manufacture, importation, or sale of magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds,” even though they’ve been in existence since before the Revolutionary War, the plaintiffs added.

The Virginia attorney general’s office and the state police superintendent’s office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Cooper & Kirk PLLC and Whiteford,Taylor & Preston LLP represent the plaintiffs.

The case is McDonald v. Katz, E.D. Va., No. 26-cv-1305, complaint filed 5/14/26.