April 17, 2026

Virginians’ Gun Run and New Jersey Carry Surge Show True Will of The People

By Larry Keane

The clearest way to measure the will of “The People” isn’t always at the polls every two or four years. Sometimes the will of the American people reveals itself through action, especially when the government starts threatening to take their rights away.

It was evident in New Jersey. A change came after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision that barred states from requiring ordinary citizens to prove a special need to carry a handgun in public for self-defense. In Virginia, it’s playing out right now after lawmakers advanced extreme gun control measures which Gov. Abigail Spanberger has mostly accepted, including a ban on the future sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of many commonly owned semiautomatic firearms and magazines. Citizens in both states are reacting by heading to the gun counter to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

Both states expose the same political fiction. Gun control activists talk as though their policy preferences reflect the will of the public. But when New Jersey lifted its “justifiable need” barrier, concealed carry applications surged. Likewise, as Virginia moved closer to a gun ban — Gov. Spanberger has signed several bills into law while altering others and sending them back to the legislature to approve — customers are rushing to firearm retailers. In both cases, citizens are revealing a desire to exercise their Second Amendment rights if they sense a government creeping in to infringe on that right.

Bruen Changed New Jersey and the Public Responded

The Supreme Court held in Bruen that states cannot restrict the right to bear arms in public only for people who can show some special or extraordinary self-defense need. New Jersey’s attorney general acknowledged that reality the next day, issuing a directive stating the state could no longer require applicants to demonstrate “justifiable need,” even though other permit requirements remained in place.

The state’s official Permit to Carry dashboard now reflects New Jersey citizens’ decisions between December 1, 2019, and March 31, 2026. Police received 99,689 carry permit applications during that period and approved all but 481. In 2024, the post-Bruen increase was reported at nearly 5,000 percent and in 2025, the state issued more permits than 2019 – 2023 combined.

Those figures show pent-up demand. For years, New Jersey’s subjective and burdensome “may issue” regime kept ordinary citizens from exercising a Constitutional right unless they could persuade the government they were special enough to deserve it. Once that artificial choke point was removed, tens of thousands of people responded. And keep in mind, crime rates all across the country — including in New Jersey — are at historic lows, all while millions more Americans lawfully purchase and carry firearms.

Virginia Governor Said What?

Virginia tells the same story from a different direction. The legislature passed a proposal that would make it a crime to import, sell, manufacture, purchase or transfer loosely defined so-called “assault firearms” — commonly owned Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs), as well as many pistols and shotguns — and would also prohibit the sale of standard-capacity magazines. However, Gov. Spanberger attached amendments to the bill that created mass confusion. The amendments, if adopted, would ban every semiautomatic rifle and pistol that accepts a detachable magazine.  And the amendment would make criminals of Virginians who carry ordinary handguns they lawfully purchased before this ban would go into effect if they were sold with a magazine that holds more than 15 rounds – which is very common.

With the governor’s amendments, the legislation returns to the legislature for acceptance or disapproval. NSSF is closely watching, as there is currently considerable confusion about what the governor’s amendments mean for law-abiding gun owners.

At her bill signing for some of the gun control legislation, Gov. Spanberger laughably added, “I support the Second Amendment.”

Virginians haven’t been waiting around to see whether Richmond politicians reconsider their unconstitutional actions. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is watching, too. U.S. Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Harmeet Dhillon sent a warning letter telling the governor, “We are closely watching — in the event any unlawful legislation is enacted, we will sue. @CivilRights will protect the 2A rights of law-abiding citizens in Virginia,” AAG Dhillon posted. “2A Section Lawyers are standing by…”

In Roanoke, citizens are voting with their wallets. One gun shop owner told WDBJ that daily firearm sales were running eight to ten times higher than before the legislative session began, with customers specifically asking about MSRs and other firearms that may soon be unavailable. Another retailer told WSET that parking was becoming a problem because of increased customer traffic and that the proposed ban could affect 65 percent of one store’s inventory and 90 percent of another’s. Overall, FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported 79,846 firearm background checks in Virginia in March, one of the highest monthly totals since the major surges of 2020.

This is the point gun control advocates routinely miss or, even worse, flat ignore. The proposed ban targets firearms that retailers sell daily and Virginians want to buy for lawful purposes, which is their Constitutional right. When politicians announce they intend to cut off future access to commonly owned firearms, citizens do not respond as though the products are irrelevant. They respond as though something important is being threatened, because it is.

Actions Speak Louder

That is why the framing from gun control-aligned politicians and activists is so misleading. In New Jersey, the policy establishment spent years acting as though ordinary citizens could only be trusted with a carry permit in rare cases. The moment that barrier collapsed, demand proved otherwise. In Virginia, lawmakers are claiming to target a public safety problem while pushing restrictions that directly hit lawful buyers, firearm retailers and commonly owned firearms. Law-abiding citizens are answering by flooding stores before the cutoff. Even a Virginia delegate’s recent warning that these bills “won’t stop the criminals” reveals that the people being immediately affected are the ones who already follow the law. Virginia’s gun control doesn’t get it. To paraphrase James Carville, it’s the criminals, stupid.

For the firearm industry, the lesson is straightforward. Rights matter, policy matters and gun buyers notice both. Remove unconstitutional barriers and Americans will exercise their rights, safely and responsibly. Threaten to ban commonly owned firearms and Americans will buy them while they still can.

That is not a messaging problem for gun control activists. It is a legitimacy problem. The public has a way of making its preferences known and in New Jersey and Virginia it is doing exactly that.

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