Deep in Rural Virginia, a MAGA Pro-Gun Push Takes an Unnerving Turn

Governor Spanberger signed an assault weapons ban. Some county prosecutors in pro-Trump areas say they won’t enforce it. Is a new MAGA nullification movement brewing?

When Governor Abigail Spanberger signed a new assault weapons ban in Virginia last month, it got almost zero national news coverage. Yet it amounted to an important milestone: It marked the first time in U.S. history that such a gun control measure was passed into law by any state government in the American South.

So it’s sadly fitting that passage of this law has been greeted by what you might call its very own nullification movement.

That’s right: In a brewing situation that has gone largely overlooked, a number of county-based prosecutors in red areas of Virginia are publicly declaring that they will not enforce the new ban on assault-style weapons. This movement is taking shape as a direct, openly confrontational challenge to the authority of Spanberger and the Virginia legislature that passed the measure—and it only appears to be growing.

“It is an abdication by MAGA elected officials of their duty to enforce the law,” State Delegate Dan Helmer, a Democrat who represents a northern Virginia district and co-sponsored the measure, tells me. The law bans the sale, purchase, and manufacture of many military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines of more than 15 rounds, among other things.

At least nine of Virginia’s “commonwealth attorneys”—who are elected county-wide to serve as chief law enforcement officers —have now issued statements declaring that they don’t intend to uphold the new law. All the counties in question voted for Donald Trump in 2024 by lopsided margins—some by more than 40 or 50 points—and many are deeply rural.

“After careful review of the legislation and existing Supreme Court precedent, I find the assault weapons ban signed by the Governor unconstitutional—and as a result, unenforceable,” Phillip Blevins, the commonwealth attorney for Smyth County, recently announced.........

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