The recently enacted assault weapons ban and magazine ban in Virginia is being challenged in the Circuit Court of Spotsylvania County on the grounds that it violates the militia clause of the Virginia Constitution. While most challenges to gun control laws are based upon the 2nd and 14th Amendments and the right to keep and bear arms, this challenge states that these new laws violate the militia clause because they prohibit the acquisition of arms to which they must be trained a members of the militia.
The lawsuit, Holloway et al v. Katz et al, was brought on behalf of two members of the Virginia unorganized militia – John Holloway and Margaret Stafford, firearms dealer Blue Ridge Arms and Sporting Goods, and certified firearms trainer James Whitfield. They are represented by former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a Republican, who was the 46th Attorney General of Virginia.
Article 1, Section 13 of the Virginia Constitution states, in part, “That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state.” The Virginia Constitution thus embeds the militia concept at its most expansive: not a narrow demographic slice, but the people themselves, armed and trained for the defense of the free state. It makes no qualification on age, race, sex, or other characteristic.
The lawsuit points out that the firearms and magazines being banned under the new gun control law, semi-automatic centerfire rifles and pistols, and the standard-capacity magazines, are the civilian equivalents of the standard service firearms issued to the Virginia National Guard and to active-duty members of the Armed Forces of the US. Thus, by banning the acquisition of these firearms and standard capacity magazines, the new laws prevent members of the Virginia unorganized militia from fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities.
In addition to the complaint seeking to invalidate the new laws, the plaintiffs are seeking a preliminary injunction against it enforcement.
The full complaint is here: VA Constitutional Complaint
Rights Watch International is working with our fellow patriots in Virginia to help raise the necessary funds to fund this constitutional challenge to the unconstitutional laws enacted by the Virginia General Assembly and signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA).
You can help by making a tax-deductible contribution of any amount by using the link below. We ask that you be as generous as you can. Stopping these unconstitutional attacks in Virginia will help stop the spread of them to other states including North Carolina.