Virginia gun sales spike ahead of July 1 assault weapons ban signed by Gov. Spanberger

Gun sales in Virginia have surged in recent months ahead of a July 1 ban on the sale of assault weapons, according to data from the FBI.

Democrat-sponsored bills that would ban the sale of semi-automatic rifles or pistols that have a magazine capacity of more than 15 rounds were introduced in the legislature in January and Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed it into law last month.

Since January, the number of background checks done for the purchase of a firearm has gone up exponentially, with 75,376 background checks in May alone, more than double the amount in May 2025, during which only 37,167 were done, according to FBI statistics.

The high so far this year was in March when 79,846 backgrounds checks were done compared to only 47,069 last year, and in April, 72,011 were done compared to 40,343 in 2025.

A total of 347,167 background checks were run through the end of May this year, which is on track to trounce the 521,283 done in all of last year.

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“For the last, I’d say, three months, we’ve been running hard,” James Sprouse, a manager at Ginger Mafia Tactical, told WDBJ-TV recently. “The second we get them in, they’re out the door.”

Trey Boyd, co-owner of Tactical Operations Vault, said he’s selling out of components for making AR-15-style rifles.

“Like this cabinet… this is where I generally keep my stripped lowers,” he told WDBJ. “Usually every rack is completely full, front to back, and about every week, it’s completely wiped out.”

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He added, “Firearms that have a magazine capacity of more than 15 rounds, we won’t be able to have anymore, which is a majority of your weapons nowadays. So it’s going to affect us big-time.”

Boyd said he hoped the law would be overturned by the courts.

Under the law, it will be a misdemeanor to buy, sell, transfer, or make an “assault firearm,”

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State Sen. Saddam Salim, D-Dunn Loring, who introduced the bill earlier this year, told FairfaxNow that there are “so many assault weapons in circulation” and that his bill will “gradually” take them off the street but stop short of retroactively criminalizing possession of any of the slew of newly-categorized “assault weapons.”

“Firearms designed to inflict maximum casualties do not belong on our streets,” Spanberger said in a statement after she signed the law. “We are taking this step to protect families and support the law enforcement officers who work every day to keep our communities safe.”