(The Center Square) – A three-judge panel appointed by the Virginia Supreme Court will determine whether four lawsuits challenging new firearm restrictions should be consolidated as plaintiffs continue seeking court action before the law takes effect July 1.
The panel was appointed June 3 to consider whether lawsuits filed in Lancaster, Washington, Spotsylvania and Fauquier counties should proceed separately or be combined and potentially transferred to a single court.
The order, signed by Chief Justice Cleo E. Powell, appointed Judges Richard S. Wallerstein Jr., J. William Watson Jr. and Helivi L. Holland to serve on the panel.
One of those cases, Crump v. Katz, was filed in Lancaster County by Gun Owners of America, the Gun Owners Foundation, the Virginia Citizens Defense League, the Virginia Citizens Defense Foundation and individual plaintiff John Crump. The defendant is Virginia State Police Superintendent Col. Jeffrey S. Katz.
According to a stay order signed Tuesday by Lancaster County Circuit Court Judge John S. Martin, further proceedings in the case are paused pending a decision by the three-judge panel.
Plaintiffs filed an emergency motion asking the court to reinstate a temporary injunction hearing before the law takes effect July 1. The motion states a hearing had been scheduled for Friday before being removed from the court’s docket after the stay order was entered.
The lawsuits challenge Senate Bill 749 scheduled to take effect July 1. The measure prohibits the purchase, sale, transfer, importation and manufacture of certain firearms and ammunition feeding devices as defined in the law.
In their emergency motion, plaintiffs argued the court should act before the law takes effect and noted that multiple Virginia commonwealth’s attorneys have publicly questioned or declined enforcement of the measure.
“Due to the impending date of July 1, when irreparable harm will be done to a constitutional right, we have filed a motion for the judge in Lancaster County to reconsider and move forward with the temporary injunction hearing,” Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, told The Center Square in reference to the right to keep and bear arms. “We have not yet heard back from the judge.”
The panel’s review does not address the merits of the lawsuits. Instead, it will determine how the related cases should proceed as legal challenges continue ahead of the law’s effective date.
The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publication of getting comment from Attorney General Jay Jones.
