Spotsylvania County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ryan Mehaffey has notified Sheriff Roger Harris that his office will not prosecute Virginia’s newly enacted assault weapons and public carry bans, which Mehaffey concluded are unconstitutional under binding Second Amendment precedent. He was among the first prosecutors in the Commonwealth to publicly take that position.
The New Laws
In May 2026, Governor Abigail Spanberger signed legislation banning the future sale and manufacture of many semiautomatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns, along with magazines holding more than 15 rounds, and separately restricting the public carry of those firearms. The measures were set to take effect July 1, 2026.
A Constitutional Line
After reviewing the statutes against the U.S. Supreme Court’s controlling Second Amendment decisions — District of Columbia v. Heller and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen — Mehaffey sent a formal letter to the Sheriff explaining that he could not, consistent with his oath, bring charges under laws he judged to be facially unconstitutional.
“These statutes are undoubtedly inconsistent with the historical tradition of Virginia, as articulated by Miller, and are thus unconstitutional under Bruen.”
Under Bruen, a modern firearm regulation must be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation to survive constitutional scrutiny. In Mehaffey’s assessment, a categorical ban on commonly owned firearms cannot meet that test.
First to Take the Stand
Mehaffey was among the earliest of roughly a dozen Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorneys to announce they would decline to enforce the new bans, and the decision drew coverage from outlets across the country, including WJLA, the Daily Caller, and Fox News. Courts in other Virginia jurisdictions subsequently issued preliminary injunctions pausing enforcement of the laws while legal challenges proceed.
A Prosecutor’s Oath
A Marine Corps veteran who enlisted after the September 11 attacks, Mehaffey has framed the decision not as a political statement but as a matter of the oath every prosecutor takes to uphold the Constitution. The role of a Commonwealth’s Attorney is to enforce the law — and, where a statute conflicts with the Constitution the office is sworn to defend, to say so plainly.
The position keeps faith with the constitutional rights of the law-abiding citizens of Spotsylvania County while the courts resolve the underlying questions.