Two very revealing articles in two different East Coast states are showing plenty of evidence that Democrat gun policies are dramatically out of step with the public, as people in both jurisdictions are briskly exercising their gun rights.
In Virginia, where freshman Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s popularity is tanking after only a few months in office as she has just presided over a legislative session that saw lots of gun control measures passed, WJLA News says a new poll shows her losing ground by “double digits.”
Across the Old Dominion, according to the Cardinal News, “Early indicators suggest Virginians responded to a slate of proposed gun control legislation with a noticeable increase in firearm background checks… There were 79,846 firearm background checks initiated in Virginia in March, according to data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. The figure marks one of the highest monthly totals since the surges in March and June 2020.”
In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, the story added, this was the first year since 2020 when a Democratic trifecta advanced gun control legislation.
Go north to New Jersey, where restrictive gun control laws were “dismantled”—at least temporarily—by the 2022 Supreme Court Bruen decision, and the Asbury Park Press is reporting the number of concealed carry permit approvals has “increased nearly tenfold” over the past four years.
New Jersey is also a Democrat stronghold, but in 2025, according to the Asbury Park Press report, “the state issued more permits than the years 2019 to 2023 combined.”
If these reports, which do not seem coincidental, don’t tell anti-gun Democrats their policies toward the Second Amendment are out of touch, perhaps nothing will.
The Cardinal News ran down a list of gun control measures passed earlier this year by Democrats in Richmond. The report included a quote from firearms retailer Ben Goldberg in Henrico County which says more than any public opinion poll.
“Every time the Democratic Party does any sort of gun legislation, gun sales go through the roof,” Goldberg reportedly said. “We’re talking at least quadruple the volume that I was doing before that.”
While liberal lawmakers may not see it—or at least pretend it’s not happening—citizens in both states are clearly signaling they want to exercise their Second Amendment rights, regardless what politicians say.
New Jersey’s state constitution does not have a specific right-to-bear-arms provision.
Virginia’s state constitution (Article 1, Section 13) says, “That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.”
Both states must comply with the Second Amendment, however, since it was incorporated to the states via the 14th Amendment in 2010 as part of the Supreme Court ruling in McDonald v. City of Chicago, a case brought by the Second Amendment Foundation and Illinois State Rifle Association.
According to the Asbury Park Press report, during the 2 ½ years from July 2022 through December 2025, Garden State law enforcement agencies issued “more than 88,000 new permits to carry handguns.” The data source was the state Attorney General’s office.
It seems clear that people in a state where gun rights were extremely restricted prior to the Bruen ruling are eager to exercise their restored right to bear arms.
Meanwhile, in Virginia—where gun ownership has deeper roots—citizens are scrambling to obtain firearms before Democrat lawmakers and governor can legislatively choke their rights. As noted by WVEC News, Spanberger is up against a deadline where the gun control bills are concerned. The station says 10 gun bills are on her desk, including a measure banning so-called “assault weapons.” It seems almost certain there will be legal challenges, despite a provision which will allow people who already own such firearms prior to the bill’s enactment will be allowed to keep them.
Gun owners in Rhode Island headed to the capitol Wednesday, where the legislature is also considering more gun control laws.
In Massachusetts, Spectrum News is reporting that new requirements for gun permit applications are now in place. The new requirements include a written examination and live fire exercise, and applicants must learn about safe storage and “disengagement tactics.”
On the plus side, various reports are saying that Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and is very pro-Second Amendment, is in line to be promoted to the position of associate attorney general. Bloomberg News is reporting that moving Dhillon into a higher position would expand “her authority over election integrity, which falls under the associate AG’s purview, as the midterms approach.”
In the gun rights community, such a promotion might also mean more activity by the Justice Department to challenge restrictive state gun control laws which clash with the Second Amendment.
March NICS Show Steady Gun Demand, While NFA Checks Explode More Than 121%
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
