Two Virginians. Two handguns. One law.

by Jeff Bayard

Imagine this scenario: The Walmart parking lot on Midlothian Turnpike is half-empty at 9:47 p.m. A man named David walks out with two bags of groceries, his boots scuffing across wet asphalt. He’s a deacon at his church, a grandfather. His Glock 19 is in the glove compartment — unlocked, the way he’s kept it for twelve years. The car doors are locked. The handgun is out of sight. But the glove box opens with one motion, no fumbling for a second key. That’s the point.

Halfway across the lot, he sees it. A dark sedan idling near his truck, windows down, two figures watching him. The vehicle wasn’t there when he went inside. As he gets closer, the sedan pulls forward and cuts across his path. Both doors open. Two men step out. One shouts something. They’re moving toward him fast.

David taps his key fob. The locks chirp open. He slides in, pulls the door shut, hits the lock, and opens the glove compartment. One fluid motion and the Glock is in his hand. He holds it where they can see it. The two men stop. They look at each other. They get back in the sedan and peel out of the lot.

David calls 911. He’s shaking but unharmed. The police arrive, take his statement, confirm no shots were fired. The officers tell him he did the right thing. Then one of them notices the open glove box. He points. “Was that locked or unlocked?”

“Unlocked,” David says.

The officer pauses. He writes David a citation — Class 4 misdemeanor, violation of § 18.2-308.7:1. The handgun wasn’t in a locked hard-sided container. His locked car doors don’t count under the new law.

Had that glove box been locked — the way HB 110 requires — David would have been fumbling for a second key while two men closed the distance. He’d have been robbed, or worse.

Instead, David drives home with his groceries, his Glock, and a criminal charge for being prepared to defend his life.

Now meet Delegate Marcus.

Imagine a Virginia delegate named Marcus who had voted yes on HB 110. He gave a floor speech about responsible gun storage and keeping communities safe. This morning, running late for session, he tossed his loaded handgun on the passenger seat of his car and jogged into the Pocahontas Building. His car sits in the legislative parking garage — doors unlocked, handgun in plain view on the leather seat.

At 2:15pm, a Capitol grounds worker notices the car door ajar. The handgun is gone. Stolen off the seat of an unlocked car on government property. A firearm that Marcus voted to make you lock in a hard-sided container is now in the hands of someone who walked into a parking garage and took it.

Under HB 110, Marcus committed no crime. The storage rules don’t apply to him. The Capitol Square firearms ban doesn’t apply to him. He carved himself out of every provision he imposed on David.

David has a criminal record. Marcus has an exemption. The stolen gun is on the street.

What the Law Actually Says

HB 110 was signed by Governor Abbie Spanberger on April 13, 2026 — Chapter 560, effective July 1. It requires every Virginian who leaves a handgun in an unattended locked vehicle to place it out of plain view in a locked hard-sided container. Violation is a Class 4 misdemeanor. Before this law, no Virginian faced criminal charges for how they stored a handgun in an unattended vehicle.

Buried in the conference report, added on the last day of session, are two exemptions:

§ 18.2-283.2(G) exempts General Assembly members from the Capitol Square firearms ban when leaving a handgun in their vehicle in the legislative parking garage.

§ 18.2-308.7:1(C)(iii) exempts vehicles in the Capitol parking structure from the locked-container storage requirements.

The House passed this 60-37. The Senate followed 21-18. Eighty-one legislators voted to exempt themselves from the crime they created for every other Virginian. The Governor signed it.

The Pattern

In my series on Virginia’s gun laws — SB749, the Anti-Police Triple Threat, and Virginia’s Perfect Storm — I’ve documented how Virginia Democrats have inverted Romans 13: government exists to punish evil and protect the innocent. Instead, Virginia has dulled the sword against criminals, targeted the sword-bearers, and disarmed the citizens.

HB 110 completes the architecture with a fourth tier: legislators above the law, police armed by exemption, citizens criminalized, criminals unaffected.

Proverbs 11:1: “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.” When lawmakers write gun restrictions and exempt themselves, the balance is false. God calls it an abomination.

Ezekiel 34:2: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves!” Virginia’s political shepherds feed themselves while the flock is criminalized for trying to defend their own families.

What You Can Do

Share this article. Most Virginians will never read the enrolled text of HB 110. Hold your legislators accountable — find yours at virginiageneralassembly.gov. And pray that God would expose this hypocrisy to every Virginian.

Jeff Bayard is content manager and composer at the Virginia Christian Alliance. This article has been republished with permission of The Virginia Christian Alliance.