A new lawsuit seeks to stop the return of an old Virginia law making it illegal to buy more than one handgun per month.
The one-handgun-a-month limit was the law in Virginia from 1993 until 2012, and was resurrected during the General Assembly session earlier this year. It is scheduled to take effect July 1.
The plaintiffs in the suit — Goochland County resident Valerie Trojan, the Brothers N Arms firearms dealer and three gun-rights groups — filed the suit last Friday.
Under the bill, buying more than one handgun per month would be a Class 1 misdemeanor, which could carry a penalty of up to 12 months in jail or a fine of up to $2,500.
The bill provides several exemptions, including for law enforcement officers, correctional officers, private security companies, antique firearms dealers, people with a concealed handgun permit, private sales and a one-for-one trade.
According to the suit: “Trojan is a wife, a mother, and a grandmother, and wishes to purchase multiple identical handguns, possibly as presents for family members.”
The suit says she “does not wish to return multiple times to the same store, fill out the same paperwork, and engage in the same often delayed and time-consuming background check, dragging out her purchase over the course of months and an impairing her constitutionally protected right to obtain firearms.”
The bill passed along party lines under the recently elected Democratic majority, which enacted several gun-control bills after the May 2019 mass shooting in a Virginia Beach municipal building.
Other plaintiffs in the suit are Virginia Citizens Defense League, Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners Foundation.
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring’s office will defend the suit.
Herring and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam have said the earlier law proved successful in minimizing the number of guns on the streets. The bill aims to reduce the number of straw purchases, and gun buyers traveling from other states to acquire several handguns at a time.
