Virginia Democrats are advancing a bill that would prohibit adults under the age of 21 from owning, purchasing, or transporting certain types of firearms in the state.
House Bill 1525 would impose harsher restrictions on gun ownership — particularly from those ranging from 18 to 20 years of age. The measure was already passed in the state House and will go to the Senate for approval.
The bill would change the state code to extend Virginia’s existing handgun and “assault firearm” restrictions, which already apply to those under 18, and raise the age to 21. The measure “prohibits persons younger than 21 years of age from purchasing a handgun or assault firearm anywhere in the Commonwealth, with certain exceptions.”
State law defines “assault firearm” as “any semi-automatic center-fire rifle or pistol which 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 which will hold more than 20 rounds of ammunition or designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer or equipped with a folding stock.”
Gun rights advocacy groups have been sounding the alarm over the proposed legislation. The National Rifle Association pointed out that the prohibition would apply to “those who already own such firearms.”
The Sportsman’s Alliance argued that the measure “penalizes an entire demographic of young adults for the actions of a few and does nothing to address the root causes of violence.”
State Rep. Delores Riley Oates, a Republican, put out a video bashing the bill. “Go to the Code of Virginia and see what the definition of an adult is,” she said. “It’s somebody who’s eighteen. This is the absurdity. This is the perfect example of the absurd and shameless attack on our Second Amendment rights.”
You literally can’t make this up
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) February 24, 2026
Virginia Democrats just pushed through a bill to restrict anyone under 21 from possessing a firearm ‘unless they are in the company of an adult’
The Code of Virginia defines an adult as ‘anyone who is 18 years old’ pic.twitter.com/mcW1KkN1dq
This is yet another “feel good” law that will make certain folks feel the government is doing something to curb gun violence. In reality, the law won’t do anything of the sort. Instead, it will punish people in a certain age group, leaving them more vulnerable to bad actors who treat gun control laws like toilet paper.
Moreover, from a constitutional perspective, it is unlikely the law will withstand legal scrutiny if it passes. The Supreme Court’s ruling in New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen established a test that the majority of existing gun control laws cannot pass. These restrictions must fit within the nation’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation,” which means there must be a law passed during the Founding era and the 19th century that performed a similar function as the bill Virginia’s anti-gunner lawmakers seek to pass.