Gun Owners of America, the Virginia Citizens Defense League, and two Liberty University students went to court on October 6, 2026. In Boyer v. Katz they ask a judge to enjoin Virginia’s ban on handgun and assault-firearm purchases by adults under 21, and to halt revived private-sale background checks that pull ordinary transfers back under government pre-approval.
The student plaintiffs are legal adults. They can vote, sit on juries, enter contracts, and bear the duties of citizenship. Virginia’s purchase ban nonetheless bars them from buying a handgun or an assault-firearm. GOA and VCDL filed with them because the right to keep and bear arms does not turn on a state legislature’s preferred birthday.
The Second Amendment’s text does not carve out a waiting room for 18-to-20-year-old adults. The Constitution is the supreme law. A state statute that forbids lawful adults from purchasing arms cannot outrank it. Boyer v. Katz puts that hierarchy in front of the court and demands an injunction, not a negotiation.
Private sales back under the same gate
The complaint does not stop at the under-21 counter ban. Plaintiffs also seek to block Virginia’s revived private-sale background checks. Those checks fold private transfers into the same screening regime that already governs dealer sales. GOA, VCDL, and the students treat that revival as another restraint on the right of the people to keep and bear arms, not a paperwork formality.
Counsel backed the complaint with a motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction. The Virginia Citizens Defense League’s October 8 alert confirmed the new filing. Plaintiffs asked the court to freeze the purchase ban and the private-sale checks while the case proceeds.
Every official who took an oath swore to support the Constitution, not the latest round of purchase restrictions. Adults under 21 are part of the people. Handguns and assault-firearms are arms. A ban on their purchase, paired with revived private-sale checks, is the burden this suit was built to stop.
Boyer v. Katz now puts Virginia to that oath. The plaintiffs asked for immediate relief. The Constitution remains the higher law.
References
- https://www.ammoland.com/2026/10/virginia-under-21-gun-purchase-ban-lawsuit/
- https://foundation.gunowners.org/litigation/boyer-v-katz/
- https://foundation.gunowners.org/wp-content/uploads/COMPLAINT.pdf
- https://foundation.gunowners.org/wp-content/uploads/M-for-TRO-PI.pdf
- https://www.vcdl.org/va-alert-vcdl-update-10-8-26-vcdl-files-a-new-lawsuit