Hi, I’m George Gerbo, and welcome to Washington Times Weekly, where we get a chance to sit down with our reporters and talk about their coverage of the latest news and events.Â
And joining me once again is our White House correspondent and author of The Advocates column, looking at the voices and players that shape Washington, Kerry Picket.Â
[GERBO] Let’s start in Virginia, where Governor Abigail Spanberger is now fully sworn in and Democrats are controlling both chambers in the Virginia House and the Virginia Senate. Democrats are looking to advance gun control measures. At least 40 have been introduced so far early in the legislative session in Richmond, specifically prohibitions on guns that are considered assault weapons, a limit on magazine capacities to 10 rounds and expanded civil liability for the gun industry. It’s a big push to go right off the jump after taking over for Republican Glenn Youngkin. And to note, Virginia governors are limited to a single term. So that’s why we’ve gone from Youngkin now, and Spanberger just being elected in November, sworn in just this January. But a big push by Democrats now that they control all three levers of power in Richmond to try to enact even stricter gun control measures than the state has previously seen.
[PICKET] That’s right, George. You have Virginia lawmakers in the House of Delegates and on the Senate side. They have full control, as you mentioned. And they have already passed a good tranche of at least about 40 pieces of legislation that have been proposed in both chambers, many of which are companion bills. So they essentially mirror each other in both chambers.
But what we’ve seen so far have been one particular significant bill that has been passed in the House and has also — a similar companion bill that’s been passed in the Senate — that would ban certain semi-automatic firearms that are deemed “assault firearms.” These include many semi-automatic rifles and pistols. And many within the gun community like to really grill those on the gun control side: what exactly is an assault firearm?
Well, in Virginia statute, they define that as a semi-automatic centerfire rifle or pistol that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material and is equipped at the time of the offense with a magazine that will hold more than 20 rounds of ammunition, or is designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer or equipped with a folding stock.
Now, that’s a lot of wording there, but still, it’s important to keep that in mind because that essentially brings in pretty much most semi-automatic firearms, whether it’s a pistol or a rifle. And at that point, you also have to remember that even though one may not be a felon, the moment this bill goes into effect, you have to remember that you’re going to have people who will be charged with a misdemeanor if they end up having these firearms, once people end up showing them to law enforcement, shall we say, at the wrong time.
So this bill ended up passing 58 to 34 within the House of Delegates. Now, House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore said this bill, along with all the others that passed the House of Delegates, he said this is a lawyer’s dream. This is completely unconstitutional, according to the Supreme Court. And the moment any of these bills are signed by Abigail Spanberger, they are going to be challenged.
I spoke to a number of gun advocates, and they said they have their lawsuits pending, and they are going to challenge them the moment they are signed by Abigail Spanberger.
[GERBO] Let’s stay in the firearms space. It’s a good transition to a story you wrote recently about the National Rifle Association and how they’ve been on a quest trying to figure out their place now in this political environment in 2026, just two years after former president Wayne LaPierre was forced to resign over a civil fraud trial that he was involved in. Now the organization, which for a lot of years carried big sway among conservatives specifically and became a target for Democrats as well to direct their ire at, but it seems to have lost some of its political heft and might, in this new political environment we’re under in this second Trump administration — and also, specifically, as you wrote about, there is a little bit of a fracture, warring factions — between the charitable arm of the NRA as well as its main organization.
[PICKET] Yeah, the National Rifle Association is really trying to pick itself up after it dealt with some legal blows over the past few years that started with the Attorney General of New York, Letitia James, they were dealing with some fraud issues, particularly Wayne LaPierre, who headed up the NRA previously. The jury found him liable for about $5.4 million in damages because of financial mismanagement, including using NRA funds for private jets, luxury vacations, and personal expenses.
Before this could go to trial, Wayne LaPierre resigned even before that could happen. But the NRA wanted to start anew. So you had one faction of the NRA who were Wayne LaPierre supporters. They went off and said, hey, we’re grabbing the foundation, which is a charitable arm. And you had the NRA in and of itself, which said, we’re starting off with a completely new board. And if any of you are NRA—if any of you are Wayne LaPierre supporters, you guys can take a hike.
So they have been fighting with one another. And just several weeks ago, the NRA noticed that the Foundation, who was full of a lot of Wayne LaPierre supporters, they were fundraising and basically using a lot of NRA logos, a lot of NRA symbols, and essentially taking a lot of their donors. And it’s very hard for the NRA to fundraise themselves. And so it’s been very difficult for the NRA to really put themselves out there to do its core mission.
Watch the video for the full conversationÂ
Click here for more from Kerry Picket
Read more:
- Democrat-run Virginia goes big on gun control
- Infighting, money woes drag down NRA’s comeback as a heavyweight in American politics
- Republicans push back on Pirro after she threatens jail time for lawful gun owners
Read The Advocates
Please read our comment policy before commenting.