Citation(s) from the GunPolicy.org literature library
Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 2024 ‘Firearm Prohibitions in Virginia.’ Who Can Have a Gun. San Francisco, CA: Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 4 December
Relevant contents
Prohibited Purchasers Generally in Virginia
Federal law prohibits certain persons from purchasing or possessing firearms, such as felons, certain domestic abusers, and certain people with a history of mental illness.
In addition, Virginia prohibits the:
- Knowing and intentional possession, purchase, or transportation of a firearm by a person acquitted by reason of insanity and "committed to the custody of the Commissioner of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services" on a charge of:
1) treason;
2) any felony; or
3) certain misdemeanors, unless his or her eligibility to purchase, possess or transport a firearm has been restored in accordance with Virginia law;
- Purchase, possession or transportation of a firearm by any person adjudicated "legally incompetent," "mentally incapacitated," or "incapacitated," whose competency or capacity has not been restored (Virginia enacted a law in 2011 establishing a procedure by which these individuals could petition for their eligibility to be restored);
- Purchase, possession or transportation of a firearm by a person who has been involuntarily admitted to a facility designated by the Commissioner of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services or ordered to mandatory outpatient treatment pursuant to a finding of incompetence or as the result of a commitment hearing, or, who was the subject of a temporary detention order and subsequently agreed to voluntary admission to such a facility, unless his or her eligibility to purchase, possess or transport a firearm has been restored in accordance with Virginia law;
- Purchase or transportation of a firearm by any person subject to a protective order, or certain other court orders, while the order is in effect;4
- Purchase or transportation of a handgun, for at least five years, by any person who, within a 36-month period, has been convicted of two or more misdemeanor drug offenses under Virginia law;5
- Knowing and intentional possession or transportation of a firearm by any person:
1) convicted of a felony;
2) adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile 14 years of age or older at the time of the offense of murder, kidnapping, robbery by the threat or presentation of firearms, or rape; or
3) who is under the age of 29 and was found guilty as a juvenile (14 years of age or older) of a delinquent act which would be a felony if committed by an adult, unless a court has, in its discretion and for good cause shown issued the person a permit to possess a firearm; or
- Knowing and intentional possession or transportation of a firearm by any person who is not a citizen of the U.S. or who is not lawfully present in the United States…
[Editor's note: The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence regularly updates its webpages with new data as US gun regulation evolves state by state. For the most up-to-date information on US gun laws, please refer to the Giffords URL below]