Gov. Abigail Spanberger is requiring the Virginia State Police to resume conducting background checks on law-abiding citizens who want to buy a gun while also blocking the police from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest and remove illegal aliens convicted of violent crimes.
Spanberger’s move to resume the checks for private gun sales is in direct contravention of an October court order halting the practice, according to Philip Van Cleave, founder of gun rights group Virginia Citizens Defense League. Van Cleave added that his group and Gun Owners of America are filing a motion for contempt of court.
“Let me get this straight. The Virginia State Police are being ordered to check the status of law abiding Virginians who are trying to exercise their 2nd amendment right to buy a firearm, but at the same time they are barred, by Governor Spanberger’s EO1, from alerting federal law enforcement agencies when an illegal immigrant who has been convicted of a violent crime against a Virginian is being released from a Virginia state prison?” former Attorney General Jason Miyares, R-Va., said on social media.
Forcing the state police to conduct background checks comes after the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill increasing the legal age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21. That bill included an emergency enactment clause, which requires immediate implementation of the bill rather than waiting for the standard statutory effective date, typically July 1.
The bill also reestablished universal background checks for all firearms sales and seemed to be pointed directly at challenging the October 2025 court order.
While the state is now overburdening Virginians who conduct private sales of guns — which often means family-to-family gun sales — with background checks, one of the first executive orders Spanberger signed after being sworn in is protecting violent illegal aliens from being arrested and deported.
Executive Order 10 reversed an order from former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R-Va., that required state and local law enforcement to work with ICE to get violent illegal aliens off the streets. Additionally, Spanberger’s Executive Directive 1 ordered state law enforcement agencies to end all 287(g) agreements and “related memoranda of understanding” with ICE. Some estimate that illegal aliens or persons who live with illegal aliens make up 20 percent of the population of Fairfax County, the commonwealth’s most populous county.
The dichotomy between forcing background checks on law-abiding citizens and letting illegals run free is another example of Spanberger and other Democrats choosing illegals and criminals over everyday Virginians.
The state police fell in line with the gun legislation within the past few days. At least as of May 21, the Virginia State Police website stated that “Private Sale Background Checks No Longer Available / Required,” noting it was in compliance with the court order. That was over a month after the bill was enacted. However, that portion of the website is now gone, and the site notes that “Private Sale background checks are now available.”
The change appears to have been spurred on by a Cardinal News article pointing out that the legislation was not being implemented for more than a month. Democrat Del. Garrett McGuire claimed that “lives are on the line right now” because of the lack of private-sale background checks and said he was working with the Spanberger administration to make sure checks are happening.
As of Wednesday, the Spanberger administration confirmed to the Virginia Scope that the checks would resume.
Spanberger has signed other anti-Second Amendment legislation, like a bill banning the sale of so-called “assault” weapons and standard-capacity magazines. That bill was introduced by Democrat state Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim, a politician from Bangladesh. As The Federalist reported, upon Spanberger’s signature, numerous lawsuits started pouring in to overturn the law.
