r/guns • u/OnlyLosersBlock • 10h ago
Official Politics Thread 7/22/2026
This is the thread dedicated to discussing gun politics.
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u/OnlyLosersBlock 10h ago
1st circuit upheld Massachuesetts assault weapons ban based on the circuits existing precedent. Essentially they are saying they are bound by internal precedent and it would take a new ruling from the Supreme Court to overturn it.
https://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/sites/ca1/files/opnfiles/25-1817P-01A.pdf
So essentially they will need a ruling from the Viramontes case to overturn AWBs in their circuit.
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u/monty845 5h ago
So essentially they will need a ruling from the Viramontes case to overturn AWBs in their circuit.
3-Judge panels (as here) are required to follow circuit precedent, however, if the circuit takes the case enbanc, it can overturn circuit precedent without going to the Supreme Court.
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u/ProfessorLeumas 6h ago
Does this mean there's a circuit split after the 3rd Circuit's ruling in New Jersey?
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u/OnlyLosersBlock 5h ago
That already created a circuit split and the Supreme Court already took up a assault weapons ban case before that.
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u/MulticamTropic 5h ago
Was there not already a circuit split? I assumed the 9th would have upheld California’s AWB decades ago.
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u/FuckingSeaWarrior 7h ago
VIRGINIA
Happy belated Injunction Day, everyone! The injunction against our AWB and magazine capacity restrictions went into effect yesterday. Reports of who is back to business as usual and who is abiding by the AWB anyway are coming in. No idea what the future holds, but for now at least, some retailers are shipping to VA again and some local stores are conducting normal transfers.
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u/OnlyLosersBlock 7h ago
I can't believe the Democrats wasted their time on this boondoggle. I mean I can, but still it's disappointing.
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u/ClearlyInsane1 6h ago
The net result so far has been ~3 weeks of the inability to buy them plus a LOT more of them sold than had the ban never been proposed. Democrats are really good at inciting the firearm sales that they claim to oppose.
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u/MulticamTropic 5h ago
I’ll give some grace to the folks who panic bought. Until Viramontes was recently granted cert, it 100% looked like Virginia was about to suffer the same fate as California. There are poor bastards in CA who grew old and died waiting for their AWB to be overturned, and the SCOTUS kept kicking the AWB challenges down the road until they essentially couldn’t due to the (at the time) pending 3rd Circuit ruling creating a circuit split.
If you were a Virginian, the smart bet was to stock up on everything before July 1st and it’s only in hindsight that it was unnecessary.
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u/monty845 5h ago edited 4h ago
Viramontes may be almost a year out, and while it is highly likely to be a pro-gun ruling, it is far from certain just how expansive that ruling is, or how it will apply to the VA laws. A narrow ruling could strike down some bans, but leave parts of other bans intact, or unclear enough to require years more of litigation to resolve. We hope its is a broad ruling that clearly strikes down all such laws, but hedge your bets.
If I were in VA, and I hadn't bought everything I wanted before the law went into effect, I'd buy it now during the injunction, rather than count on Viramontes.
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u/ClearlyInsane1 4h ago
Seeing how long AWBs have lasted (starting in 1989 in California) I would have really spent big this year if I lived in Virginia. Heck, I'd have purchased mags for guns that I didn't even own.
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u/MulticamTropic 3h ago
Yep. The range I shoot as is in Virginia, so I spend some time in the VA Guns sub, and it was wild watching them dogpile the folks who said they were moving to TN, KY, WV, or NC. So many accusations of cowardice for not “staying and fighting”.
The time to fight was the 2025 Gubernatorial election. They don’t understand that at the state level, the fight is over. NOVA is now big enough to outvote the rest of VA, and you can’t unring that bell.
Giving up your gun rights by staying in a state that will never return them is just unnecessary self-flagellation, you have a greater impact on gun rights by moving to a growing red state such as TN or a purple state such as NC and using your vote to cancel out a Democrat’s vote.
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u/FuckingSeaWarrior 7h ago
Don't forget, they also wasted their time on an unconstitutional redistricting push and the subsequent lawsuit.
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u/DigitalLorenz 53m ago
3rd Circuit - NJ again
So now that ANJRPC/Cheeseman v Platkin has been released (did y'all think I was done now that I can have an M1 Carbine, I am not going away until NJ is every bit as free as Wyoming or Montana!), the next big 2A case is Koons/Siegel v Platkin, another consolidated case that is a challenge to the NJ sensitive places plus insurance requirement and references for carry permits.
This case had oral arguments in front of the en banc panel in February, and is already past the normal turnaround for that panel. Like ANJRPC/Cheeseman, Koons/Siegel is thought to be on hold pending Hemani and Wolford. While I think ANJRPC/Cheeseman was already written but only needed a once over to ensure that no radical changes were happening, I think Wolford is going to be a large impact on Koons/Siegel. I think this opinion has yet to be written or will have some sections see some heft revisions to account for Wolford. There might even be a shift in the majority as some judges might come to the realization that resistance is futile, and they have to uphold the 2A.
I think we should expect a ruling by the middle of August on this case, but I also expect a ruling on ANJRPC/Cheeseman at the end of this month, so I would be happy if I was proven wrong by the ruling coming out sooner.
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