Proposed Virginia Firearm Legislation HB1524
Legislation Overview
Title: Assault firearms; carrying in public areas prohibited, penalty.
Description: Carrying assault firearms in public areas prohibited; penalty. Prohibits the carrying of certain semi-automatic center-fire rifles, pistols, and shotguns or any firearm modified to be operable as an assault firearm on any public street, road, alley, sidewalk, or public right-of-way or in any public park or any other place of whatever nature that is open to the public, with certain exceptions. Under current law, the prohibition on carrying certain shotguns and semi-automatic center-fire rifles and pistols applies to a narrower range of firearms, only in certain localities, and only when such firearms are loaded. A violation of this prohibition is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Session: 2026 Regular Regular Session
Last Action: Passed by for the day
Last Action Date: February 27, 2026
Sponsors
Note: the first sponsor listed is normally the primary sponsor. If a sponsor's name is a hyperlink you can click on it to 'follow the money'.
1 sponsors: Garrett McGuire (D)
Percentage of House of Delegates sponsoring bill: 1% (1 of 100)
History
| Chamber | Date | Action |
| Senate | Feb 27, 2026 | Passed by for the day |
| Senate | Feb 27, 2026 | Read third time |
| Senate | Feb 26, 2026 | Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote) |
| Senate | Feb 26, 2026 | Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A) |
| House | Feb 26, 2026 | Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1524) |
| Senate | Feb 26, 2026 | Rules suspended |
| Senate | Feb 25, 2026 | Committee substitute printed 26108452D-S1 |
| House | Feb 25, 2026 | Fiscal Impact statement From VCSC (2/25/2026 12:55 pm) |
| Senate | Feb 25, 2026 | Reported from Finance and Appropriations (10-Y 5-N) |
| Senate | Feb 23, 2026 | Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (9-Y 5-N) |
| Senate | Feb 18, 2026 | Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice |
| Senate | Feb 18, 2026 | Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) |
| House | Feb 17, 2026 | Read third time and passed House (54-Y 41-N 0-A) |
| House | Feb 16, 2026 | Read second time and engrossed |
| House | Feb 15, 2026 | Read first time |
| House | Feb 13, 2026 | Reported from Public Safety (13-Y 7-N) |
| House | Feb 3, 2026 | Assigned HMPPS sub: Firearms |
| House | Jan 28, 2026 | Fiscal Impact statement From VCSC (1/28/2026 9:43 am) |
| House | Jan 28, 2026 | Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1524) |
| House | Jan 27, 2026 | Unanimous consent to introduce |
| House | Jan 27, 2026 | Referred to Committee on Public Safety |
| House | Jan 27, 2026 | Presented and ordered printed 26105949D |
Texts
| Type | Date | State Link | Text |
| Comm Sub | Feb 25, 2026 | state link | bill text |
| Introduced | Jan 27, 2026 | state link | bill text |
Amendments
| Title | Description | Date | State Link | Text | Adopted |
| There are no amendments to this bill at this time | |||||
Votes - Click on description to view vote roll call
| Description | Vote Date | Yea Votes | Nay Votes | No Votes | Absent | Passed |
| Reported from Public Safety (13-Y 7-N) | 02/13/2026 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 2 | Yes |
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| resort votes by: party yeas nays name | ||||||
| Read third time and passed House (54-Y 41-N 0-A) | 02/17/2026 | 54 | 41 | 0 | 5 | Yes |
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| resort votes by: party yeas nays name | ||||||
| Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (9-Y 5-N) | 02/23/2026 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 1 | Yes |
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| resort votes by: party yeas nays name | ||||||
| Reported from Finance and Appropriations (10-Y 5-N) | 02/25/2026 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Yes |
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| resort votes by: party yeas nays name | ||||||
| Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A) | 02/26/2026 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Yes |
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| resort votes by: party yeas nays name | ||||||
Link: link to state bill page
