(The Center Square) – A Washington County Circuit Court judge said in a Tuesday amended letter opinion that his preliminary injunction against Virginia’s new assault weapons and large-capacity magazine restrictions will apply statewide beginning July 21.
Judge Jeffrey L. Campbell issued the amended opinion after attorneys for the plaintiffs and the state attorney general’s office disagreed over the wording of the proposed order following his June 29 preliminary injunction.
According to the opinion, the plaintiffs argued the injunction should apply statewide, while the commonwealth argued it should be limited to the named defendants in the lawsuit.
Campbell sided with the plaintiffs, writing that limiting the injunction could prevent them from obtaining complete relief and create inconsistent enforcement of the law across Virginia.
The judge wrote that because Virginia’s newly enacted law restricts the transportation of certain firearms, limiting the injunction to specific defendants could leave someone protected in one jurisdiction but subject to prosecution after crossing into another locality.
Campbell wrote that the court was concerned limiting the injunction could create a “treacherous patchwork of enforcement” for both plaintiffs and law enforcement agencies.
The amended opinion states the injunction will apply to all law enforcement agencies, including local law enforcement officers and commonwealth’s attorneys responsible for enforcing the law.
Campbell delayed the effective date until July 21, writing that the clerk should provide notice of the injunction to law enforcement agencies and commonwealth’s attorneys throughout Virginia before it takes effect.
The amended opinion follows a Monday decision by a three-judge panel appointed by the Virginia Supreme Court denying the state’s request to consolidate four lawsuits challenging the law.
The panel ruled the cases should continue separately in Washington, Lancaster, Spotsylvania and Fauquier counties, finding the lawsuits raise different legal questions and that consolidation was not warranted.
Virginia enacted the restrictions through Senate Bill 749 and House Bill 217 during the 2026 General Assembly session.
The law prohibits the future sale, purchase, manufacture, importation and transfer of certain semiautomatic firearms and magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds, while generally allowing current owners to keep firearms they already lawfully possessed.
The Office of the Attorney General disputed Campbell’s conclusion in a statement to The Center Square, saying the judge’s statewide declaration “is wrong, reaches far beyond the case before him, and is unsupported by Virginia precedent.”
The office said a Circuit Court injunction “must stay within proper legal limits and cannot bind people or parties who are not part of the lawsuit.” It added that it “will continue defending Virginia’s assault weapons ban and remains confident the law will be upheld.”
