Surprise, Virginia Now Has Its Own "Assault Weapons" Ban

Virginia’s leaders have taken a page from Dianne Feinstein’s 1990s playbook and, surprisingly, passed a new assault weapons ban (their words, not ours). If the state senate gives its approval, big changes are going to come for gun owners in Old Dominion.

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The story so far

At the start of 2026, Virginia’s politicians started working on pushing through all kinds of gun control, including a potential super-tax on suppressors (that one was canceled—see here) and other laws that introduced more regulations for gun stores, and banning the sale of so-called assault weapons. The assault weapon ban looked like it was dead for a while, but apparently, SB749 has been pushed through now, after some tinkering and fine-tuning.

The exact wording from the state government’s website says this new law “Creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for any person who imports, sells, manufactures, purchases, or transfers an assault firearm, as that term is defined in the bill with some exceptions, and prohibits a person who has been convicted of such violation from purchasing, possessing, or transporting a firearm for a period of three years from the date of conviction. The bill provides that an assault firearm does not include any firearm that is an antique firearm, has been rendered permanently inoperable, or is manually operated by bolt, pump, lever, or slide action. The bill also prohibits the sale of a large capacity ammunition feeding device, as that term is defined in the bill. The bill provides that any person who willfully and intentionally (i) sells an assault firearm to another person or (ii) purchases an assault firearm from another person is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor and that any person who imports, sells, barters, transfers, or purchases a large capacity ammunition feeding device is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.”

Firearms made before July 1, 2026, are not affected by this bill, but if you want a new AR with a standard-capacity magazine that was made on July 2 of this year, looks like Virginia’s new law will cause you some trouble.

But it’s not just ARs. Virginia’s new law singles out any semi-auto centerfire rifle or pistol that has a fixed magazine capacity of more than 15 rounds. It also applies to rifles with detachable magazines as well as one other tactical feature (collapsible/folding/telescopic stock, or thumbhole stock, or foregrip, or pistol grip, or grenade launcher, or threaded muzzle). There is similar wording for shotguns and pistols with similar features (barrel shrouds are a no-no now, for pistols in Virginia). Belt-fed firearms are now forbidden from sale, and so are revolving shotguns.