Judge Jeffrey L. Campbell of the Washington County Circuit Court didn't issue a partial block. He didn't carve out exceptions. He didn't punt to a higher court. On Tuesday, July 8, Campbell expanded his earlier ruling into a full statewide injunction against Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger's assault weapons ban, effective July 21, 2026.
Every sheriff, every police department, every state trooper in the Commonwealth — enjoined.
The ban, which technically took effect July 1, targeted so-called "assault weapons" and magazines holding more than 15 rounds. AR-15s were the obvious centerpiece. The legislation was championed by State Senator Saddam Azlan Salim, a Democrat out of Fairfax County in Northern Virginia, and signed by Spanberger as a crown jewel of her first-term agenda. The message was clear: Virginia was going to follow California's playbook.
The courts had a different idea. Campbell first issued his opinion on June 29 in the case of Santolla, et al. v. Katz, et al., raising serious constitutional concerns about the ban. Then, on July 8, he removed any ambiguity about the scope. His order stated this is "now clearly a statewide injunction effective July 21, 2026." No wiggle room. No county-by-county carve-outs.
The judge's language left nothing to interpretation: "All law enforcement is enjoined from enforcement of the law." That's not a suggestion. That's not guidance. That's a judicial brick wall between Spanberger's office and every gun owner in the state.
The Virginia Citizens Defense League, known as the VCDL, and its president Philip Van Cleave had been at the forefront of the legal challenge. They argued what most of us already knew — that banning the most commonly owned rifles in America doesn't survive constitutional scrutiny, especially after the Supreme Court's recent Second Amendment rulings reaffirming the individual right to bear arms.
Spanberger's office will presumably appeal. They spent months selling this ban as essential public safety legislation, the kind of "common sense" reform that every Democrat insists nobody could possibly oppose. The governor positioned it as a legacy achievement. Now it's a legacy injunction.
As reported by RedState's Teri Christoph, this is the second major legal setback for state-level gun bans in recent months. The pattern keeps repeating: blue-state governors ram through firearms restrictions, take a victory lap with sympathetic media, and then watch a judge explain the Constitution to them.
The ban was supposed to be enforceable across Virginia starting July 1. Instead, Virginians kept their rifles, kept their magazines, and kept their rights. The state that produced George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison just reminded everyone why they wrote the Second Amendment in the first place.
Spanberger bet her political capital on a gun grab. The court called.