Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and her allies thought they had found a way around a court order blocking universal background checks for private gun sales.
A Lynchburg judge just told them no.
On Wednesday, June 3, Lynchburg Circuit Judge Patrick Yeatts denied Virginia’s request to dissolve the injunction that blocks universal background checks for private firearm sales.
The injunction Yeatts issued back in October stays in place. State law enforcement is expected to comply.
This is a fresh development, not the earlier story. Last week, Virginia State Police actually restarted private-sale background checks to comply with a new state law.
That restart lasted about a week. After Wednesday’s ruling, the checks stopped again.
Gun Owners of America posted the breaking court news the same day:
🚨BREAKING🚨
A judge has reaffirmed his prior order in the GOA-VCDL lawsuit.
VA’s Universal Background Check law remains blocked by a statewide injunction.
Any official who tries to enforce the law despite the order does so at the risk of being held in contempt of court! pic.twitter.com/jrJeZ0LfiY
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) June 3, 2026
The underlying case is Wilson v. Hanley, brought by Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, the Virginia Citizens Defense League, and individual plaintiffs.
In October 2025, the court struck down Virginia’s universal background check law for private firearm sales and granted a permanent statewide injunction.
Gun Owners of America called Wednesday’s decision a major win and laid out exactly what the judge did:
Today, Gun Owners of America and the Virginia Citizens Defense League won another major victory in our fight against Virginia’s unconstitutional Universal Background Check law.
In Wilson v. Hanley, Judge Yeatts made it crystal clear that his statewide permanent injunction remains fully in effect and that Virginia law enforcement is expected to comply with that order. The court rejected efforts to undermine the injunction and reaffirmed that Virginia’s Universal Background Check scheme remains blocked.
The message from the court is simple: government officials do not get to ignore constitutional rights when they disagree with them.
This victory belongs to every Virginia gun owner who stood with GOA and VCDL during this fight. While Governor Spanberger, Attorney General Jay Jones, and anti-gun politicians continue their attacks on the Second Amendment, we will continue fighting back in the courts-and winning.
ADVERTISEMENTThere is still more work to do. But today, we celebrate a major win for freedom, a major win for the Constitution, and a major win for Virginia gun owners.
Here is how Virginia tried to get around the order in the first place.
On April 22, 2026, Spanberger signed HB 1525 after lawmakers concurred in her amendments. Those amendments included an emergency clause and language tied to enforcement of the blocked background checks.
The idea was to use a new law to push the checks back into effect fast. The State Police restarted private-sale checks last week on that basis.
Yeatts was not persuaded that a fresh bill erases his injunction.
Cardinal News, which covered the hearing locally, reported the back-and-forth and the State Police reversal:
After seven months of conducting no background checks for private firearm sales, followed by one week of checks, Virginia State Police have again halted the checks after a Lynchburg judge stepped in Wednesday.
Lynchburg Circuit Judge Patrick Yeatts on Wednesday denied a motion to dissolve the injunction that ceases background checks for private firearm sales, calling on state police to once again follow the order he issued in October. Last week, state police resumed background checks for the private sale of firearms to comply with a new state law.
The Virginia State Police updated its website Wednesday evening to say it is “in compliance with the injunction” and “currently cannot provide criminal history background checks for the private sale of firearms.”
ADVERTISEMENTHours before, the website read: “The State Police background check for the purchase of a firearm includes the enforcement of both state and federal law. Private Sale background checks are now available.”
Yeatts said legal counsel for the plaintiff – the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a pro-gun organization – and the defendant – Col. Jeffrey Katz, superintendent of the Virginia State Police – have 10 days to file additional information before further arguments are scheduled sometime in June.
In the meantime, Yeatts’ injunction from October remains in place and should be enforced, he said.
The fight is not finished. The parties have 10 days to file more information, and the case returns to court later this month.
One of the live questions is whether HB 1525’s emergency timeline was even valid.
The Virginia Constitution sets a high bar for emergency effective dates:
No law shall be enacted except by bill. A bill may originate in either house, may be approved or rejected by the other, or may be amended by either, with the concurrence of the other. No bill shall become a law unless, prior to its passage:
(a) it has been referred to a committee of each house, considered by such committee in session, and reported;
(b) it has been printed by the house in which it originated prior to its passage therein;
ADVERTISEMENT(c) it has been read by its title, or its title has been printed in a daily calendar, on three different calendar days in each house; and
(d) upon its final passage a vote has been taken thereon in each house, the name of each member voting for and against recorded in the journal, and a majority of those voting in each house, which majority shall include at least two-fifths of the members elected to that house, recorded in the affirmative.
The printing and reading, or either, required in subparagraphs (b) and (c) of this section, may be dispensed with in a bill to codify the laws of the Commonwealth, and in the case of an emergency by a vote of four-fifths of the members voting in each house, the name of each member voting and how he voted to be recorded in the journal.
All laws enacted at a regular session, including laws which are enacted by reason of actions taken during the reconvened session following a regular session, but excluding a general appropriation law, shall take effect on the first day of July following the adjournment of the session of the General Assembly at which it has been enacted; and all laws enacted at a special session, including laws which are enacted by reason of actions taken during the reconvened session following a special session but excluding a general appropriation law, shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month following the month of adjournment of the special session; unless in the case of an emergency (which emergency shall be expressed in the body of the bill) the General Assembly shall specify an earlier date by a vote of four-fifths of the members voting in each house, the name of each member voting and how he voted to be recorded in the journal, or unless a subsequent date is specified in the body of the bill or by general law.
That four-fifths threshold is steep in a closely divided legislature, and it is now part of the courtroom dispute over whether the new law could lawfully kick in early.
For now, the order from last fall stands and the private-sale checks are off again.
Spanberger ran as the moderate. On the Second Amendment, she keeps landing on the side that wants to expand background-check power over law-abiding Virginians, and a Lynchburg judge keeps reminding her that a constitutional injunction does not vanish because politicians wish it would.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
