Virginia Lt. Governor Lashes Out Over Prosecutorial Discretion on Assault Weapon Ban

The state-level officials in Virginia are big mad these days. They were absolutely convinced that once they took office, they could do whatever they wanted, and the rest of the state would just fall in line. They campaigned on one thing, did a bait and switch on the voters, then seemed to think that everyone else just had to take it like a champ.

And they’re not, particularly with prosectors who have already said publicly that they won’t enforce the new assault weapon ban. We’ve talked a lot about this already, but it seems the anger keeps on coming.

Now, it’s from the lt. governor, who has some of the dumbest takes on the issue I’ve seen.

Virginia Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi has stepped into the growing dispute over local non-enforcement of Virginia’s new gun control package, issuing a public statement criticizing the county prosecutors and sheriff who have announced they will not enforce the law.

The statement marks the first major response from the Spanberger administration to the non-enforcement coalition, which now includes eight commonwealth’s attorneys and one county sheriff. Hashmi’s response signals that the administration intends to publicly pressure local officials rather than negotiate with them.

Hashmi’s argument

In her released statement, Hashmi framed the non-enforcement positions as a violation of the prosecutorial oath rather than a legitimate exercise of discretion.

“Some Commonwealth’s Attorneys across Virginia are refusing to enforce recently signed gun legislation banning assault weapons, a direct violation of their oath to uphold the laws of the Commonwealth,” Hashmi said. “Although these prosecutors cite concerns related to the Second Amendment, 11 states, now including Virginia, have similar laws, and just last year, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear a case on Maryland’s prohibition of assault weapons and declined to consider a challenge to Rhode Island’s ban on large-capacity magazines.”

The reference to the Supreme Court’s cert denials is Hashmi’s strongest argument. The Court did deny certiorari in Snope v. Brown in June 2025, leaving the Fourth Circuit’s ruling upholding Maryland’s assault weapons ban intact as binding precedent throughout the circuit (which includes Virginia). The Court has also declined to take up several other similar challenges.

Hashmi went further, arguing that the cert denials constitute implicit approval of the underlying state laws.

Honestly, that’s the dumbest take I’ve ever seen. “The Supreme Court hasn’t gotten around to saying ‘no,’ so that totally means they approve of this and what we’re doing is constitutional.”

Never mind that Heller made it clear you cannot ban an entire category of firearms, nor ban guns that are “in common use.” That’s explicit. That doesn’t require me to interpret actions as something they’re not. It’s right there in the freaking decisions they’ve handed down.

Let’s keep in mind that, over the years, the Supreme Court has declined to hear a number of cases on a number of issues. The truth is that their time is limited, and they can only hear so many cases, so while the implication might seem that they decline certain cases because the lower court ruled correctly, the reality is that we’ve seen issues with conflicting opinions being declined. That means their cert denials aren’t de facto stamps of approval.

But Hashmi is either a semi-functional moron–entirely possible since she’s a politician–or she knows this and is intentionally trying to spin this to put the crosshairs on the prosecutors who have said they won’t enforce this measure.

It’s also worth noting that the Supreme Court has, in the past, denied cert on cases challenging drug laws. They also ruled in Gonzales v. Raich that the Commerce Clause gave the federal government authority over marijuana laws, even when state or local laws allow its cultivation. So, where was Hashmi in condemning those prosecutors who said they weren’t going to prosecute some marijuana-related offenses?

I mean, that wasn’t even a cert denial, but a hard and fast decision that marijuana laws were constitutional, and we didn’t hear anything from her there.

Strange, ain’t it?

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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