Increasingly unpopular Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger has deferred consideration of several extreme gun control bills until after the state’s referendum on Democrats’ gerrymandering scheme.
The all but certain political move by the commonwealth’s leftist governor was announced Tuesday, when Spanberger revealed that she had sent the bills in question back to the Democrat-run General Assembly with amendments she claimed “strengthen commonsense gun safety laws.” Monday night was the deadline by which Spanberger had to decide whether to request such amendments, sign or veto legislation, or allow bills to become law without her signature.
Among the bills Spanberger sought changes to are HB 217 and SB 749, which seek to ban the sale and purchase of so-called “assault firearms” (a “semi-automatic center-fire rifle or pistol” with a “fixed magazine capacity in excess of 15 rounds” in Virginia.) The governor’s office claimed Spanberger’s sought-after amendments “provide additional clarity to law enforcement as it relates to the firearms included under this legislation, as well as protect the use of certain semi-automatic shotguns used for hunting.”
The Trump Justice Department sent a letter to Spanberger prior to Monday’s deadline warning that it is prepared to take legal action against the commonwealth should it enact bills like SB 749. The agency said that such legislation “unconstitutionally limit[s] law-abiding Americans’ individual right to bear arms.”
Spanberger furthermore requested amendments to HB 1525, which bans Virginians under the age of 21 from purchasing handguns and “assault firearms” in the state. Also on the list was HB 702, which authorizes localities to “develop policies and procedures to implement either a firearm give-back program or a firearm buy-back program by January 1, 2028, and annually thereafter.”
[READ: Democrats Love Gun Control And Violent Criminals Because Both Can Punish You]
According to an NPR affiliate, the General Assembly will consider whether to approve or reject Spanberger’s amendment proposals during a one-day session on April 22. That’s one day after the state’s April 21 referendum that will decide the fate of Democrats’ radical gerrymandering amendment.
As The Federalist previously reported, the seemingly illegal amendment temporarily abolishes the state’s redistricting commission and permits the Democrat-run General Assembly to redraw Virginia’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterms. The party’s current proposal would gerrymander the commonwealth from a six Democrat-five Republican map to a 10 Democrat-one Republican map, which would effectively disenfranchise millions of rural Virginians.
A Federalist analysis recently found that more than 90 percent of the funds given to the left-wing group pushing the amendment (“Virginians for Fair Elections”) have come from outside the state. Among the organization’s biggest donors are the Hakeem Jeffries-tied House Majority Forward, the leftist Fairness Project, and the Soros-linked Fund for Policy Reform Inc.
Spanberger’s decision to punt on the aforementioned gun control bills comes amid the governor’s tanking approval rating among Virginians. Despite having been in office less than four months, a new poll recently found that the commonwealth’s first female chief executive “has the worst approval rating of any Virginia governor, no matter the party, since at least the mid-1990s,” as The Federalist’s Breccan Thies reported.
