Will a meaningful Second Amendment survive in Virginia? That this is even an open question shows how dramatically one election can reshape a state when it comes to the right to keep and bear arms.
Perhaps no state is more steeped in America’s constitutional and political history than Virginia. It has birthed more U.S. presidents than any other state, including the country’s first, whose military leadership during the Revolutionary War helped secure American independence. Virginia has been called the “Mother of Presidents” and George Washington the “Father of our Nation.”
Thomas Jefferson, principal author of the Declaration of Independence and America’s third president, was also a Virginian. So was James Madison, fourth president, who is known as the “Father of the Constitution” for his leading role in drafting that founding charter, as well as the Bill of Rights.
Virginia was the scene of pivotal battles during the Revolutionary War, including the siege of Yorktown, and some of the fiercest fighting of the Civil War, including at Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Its soil is deeply infused with the blood of patriots.
And yet Virginians who value their right to arms now face unprecedented peril. We have a governor whose view of politics was shaped by Moms Demand Action for Gun Safety, a firearm-prohibition group. We have an attorney general who fantasizes about how the violent death of his political opponents’ children might change their minds on gun control. And we have a legislature that has already delivered enough gun control to our outgoing governor’s desk to flip Virginia from a moderate, pro-gun state to an unrecognizably extreme gun-control stronghold. Only Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s stalwart vetoes of dozens of bills—including a broad ban on semi-automatic rifles—have kept the anti-gun tide at bay.
These are, to say the least, a far cry from the days of Virginia Gov. Patrick Henry and his immortal rallying cry, “Give me liberty or give me death!”
Now, the last checks left on gun control are the relative brevity of Virginia’s 60-day legislative session and the hope that other priorities will compete for the General Assembly’s attention.
Virginia is not like Washington, D.C., New York City or San Francisco, places where generations have grown up as if in a European nation where lawful gun ownership—especially of handguns—is relegated to an idiosyncratic, determined and well-heeled few. Historically, most of Virginia has embraced gun ownership, as well as hunting and the shooting sports. Even in densely populated Northern Virginia, the proliferation of active-duty military members, law enforcement officers and veterans has ensured a culture that sustains multiple shooting ranges, gun shops, gun clubs and outdoor-gear stores.
There is a reason NRA Headquarters has been located in Fairfax, Va., since 1994. The surrounding area has a highly educated workforce. Multiple airports can deliver employees to almost any location in the country within hours. Capitol Hill is easily accessible. History and the story of American progress is part of the landscape, spurring our efforts. And, of course, Virginia has been a very livable place for law-abiding gun owners.
Professionalism and pragmatism had long been a feature of Virginia politics, even as the balance of power shifted back and forth between the two parties. The NRA has in the past worked closely alongside various Virginia Democrats and bestowed A-ratings on some of them.
Yet those same Virginia Democrats who have stayed in politics have gravitated to the hard left on gun control. Increasingly, the national party and its coastal funders enforce an anti-gun orthodoxy that demands bans on popular guns, lawfare against the firearm industry and prior restraints on lawful purchases of firearms and ammunition.
So it is now in Virginia. Among the 65 bills pre-filed in the Virginia legislature as I write this in December 2025 is S.B. 27, “Virginia Firearm Industry Standards of Responsible Conduct.” This is an off-the-shelf version of the so-called Firearm Industry Responsibility Acts taking root in anti-gun and Democrat-controlled states across the country. See my feature in this month’s edition for an in-depth discussion of this audacious gun-control scheme.
Meanwhile, the new Attorney General Jay Jones is already suing to extend the deadline to appeal a court ruling invalidating Virginia’s ban on private firearm sales. Former Attorney General Attorney General Jason Miyares let the Dec. 1, 2025, deadline expire without action. Jones, however, was determined to push his anti-gun agenda even before he took office.
Only time will reveal the extent of absurdities and infringements awaiting us. But if it can happen here in the cradle of American history, it can happen in any U.S. state. I have said it before: political inaction for gun owners anywhere is tantamount to surrender.
Remember Virginia and be warned!
