In a ruling issued Thursday, the Spotsylvania Circuit Court denied a request for preliminary injunction in the Curtis v. Katz challenge to Virginia’s semiautomatic firearm/magazine ban. Article 1, Section 13 of the Virginia Constitution recognizes an individual right to arms as members of the unorganized militia, plaintiffs argued, and “the rifles and handguns prohibited by the Firearms Ban are ‘quintessential Militia Arms.”
Despite those inarguable conclusions, Judge William E. Glover is allowing the ban to proceed.
True, he concedes, Plaintiffs will suffer “irreparable harm if the Ban becomes effective and is later determined to be unconstitutional.” But considering a “balance of hardships to the parties… it does not outweigh the potential of harm to the Commonwealth.” does not
And he does not concede the Court can make a finding that “a legally viable claim… will… succeed on the merits.” Just the opposite.
“The Court is currently persuaded that both the history and practice surrounding Sec. 13 establish no individual right to possess military style weapons by members of the unorganized militia,” Glover states.
“The public is entitled to the implementation of laws” created by the representatives and approved by the Governor, Glover concludes. If the ban is struck down later, “the balance between the legislature judiciary is maintained [but] to enjoin the legislature preliminarily is not… in the public interest.”
This correspondent has been invited to attend a Zoom meeting conducted by the Counsel of Record on Friday afternoon and plans to submit relevant observations in an update to this article.
The Court’s opinion is embedded below.
ZOOM Meeting Update
The press update meeting began at 1:00 pm Eastern and lasted half an hour. Ken Cuccinelli presided. In attendance were Plaintiff Dustin Curtis, myself, AmmoLand’s Brian Johnson, Alan Gottlieb of SAF/CCRKBA, Armed American Radio’s Mark Walters, Philip Van Cleave and Patricia Webb of VCDL, author and journalist John Petrolino, Stephen Gutowski of The Reload, Joe Dodson of Courthouse News, and NAGR’s Taylor Rhodes.
Cucinelli’s bottom line—their case is unique because no one has ever litigated and resolved a complaint based on the Militia clause, and as things now stand, Virginia does not admit to any limit and can essentially ban any arm it wants.
The question on everyone’s mind: Will the case be appealed? They have 15 days. He would like to and will give the matter serious consideration.
Also, because he expects to be busy, he will give no individual interviews but will periodically issue statements as appropriate.
Rather than summarize via incomplete contemporaneous handwritten notes, I have been provided with a formatted transcript courtesy of Mark Walters using ChatGPT.
Editor’s Note: Updated at 2:30 pm EST 6/19/2026 to include Zoom Meeting Update.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
