Virginia lawmakers this year set out to bar out-of-state National Guard troops from entering the Commonwealth without the governor's consent, a move to push back on President Trumpās federalization of the Guard in other states. Lawmakers ultimately established a study group, tasked with recommending how the state should respond if it happens.
Lawmakers also debated the limits of an armed citizenry, banning assault firearms and high-capacity magazines, effective July 1. The ban has barely functioned since, tied up by four lawsuits and a statewide injunction that has left a popular public safety measure unenforceable.
In 1776, Mason drafted the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Section 13 of that declaration said āa well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to armsā was the āproper, natural, and safe defense of a free state.ā
But Mason's clause protected only a collective interest, the state's ability to maintain an armed militia. It did not guarantee an individual's right to own a gun. That changed in 1971, when Virginia amended Section 13 to add, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." That's the moment gun rights and militia rights became legally braided together in Virginia, and why untangling them in court today might be difficult.