Virginia’s new gun laws motivate buyers to snatch up automatic rifles and more at busy Henrico gun show

At the Richmond Gun Show this past weekend at the Richmond Raceway, rifles flew off the tables in anticipation of new gun laws next month.

On Sunday afternoon, a wide variety of shoppers expressed concern and the need to acquire the kinds of weapons that are being banned in Virginia, come July 1 when new laws take effect.

Walking back to his car from the expo rooms, Jason Smith carried a new AR-15 rifle that utilizes 7.62 x 39mm ammunition. In his other hand, he carried an AK flat rifle.

“It infringes on our Second Amendment rights,” said Smith about the new gun control laws, including HB217 and SB749, which proponents believe will protect Virginia families, law enforcement and communities by prohibiting the future sale of assault-style weapons.

Smith was adding those assault rifles to his collection of 10 other rifles.

“The gun laws that they implemented, it doesn't hurt the criminal, it hurts the law-abiding citizen because criminals going to always get their hands on illegal firearms and high-capacity magazines,” Smith said. “But when you limit the working citizen, it's like a handicap to us. We go to work to protect our families and enjoy our lives, but the criminals are not going to stop carrying high-capacity magazines just because they're illegal or assault rifles. They're still going to be out here in the streets. We are going to have to go back to the revolver days as a citizen, but the criminals are going to always have the upper hand.”

Smith believes that crime stems from division, saying: “If people look at it as if we are all human instead of racist and cultures and stuff, all of us bleed the same blood, we breathe the same, we are all just human, so, if everybody's stuck together, the world would be a better place.”

In front of the Richmond Raceway expo rooms housing the 800 vendors at the weekend gun show, members of the Virginia Citizen Defense League tabled, giving out round orange GUNS SAVE LIVES stickers for anyone who wanted one, encouraging membership in exchange for discounted admission and speaking out against the restrictions being put into place.

“We need as much help as we can get to try to overturn these laws. And we're going through the court system as quickly as possible,” John Gosney, a VCDL volunteer told Chuwin Cruz, 19.

“I was trying to be a gun owner today, but due to the circumstances of the new gun laws right now, I've been unfortunately denied,” said Cruz, whose concerns with crime where he lives motivated him to shop for an assault rifle.

“It’s mainly for protection for my house. I have the Constitutional rights as a US citizen to use them, the Second Amendment,” said Cruz.

HB 1525 made it unlawful for any person younger than 21 years of age to knowingly and intentionally purchase, possess or transport a handgun or assault firearm anywhere in the commonwealth.

Thousands more attendees

That ruling was among the more than a dozen new gun control laws that, earlier this month, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger signed into law.

Multiple shoppers and vendors interviewed at the Richmond Gun Show said Virginia’s assault rifle ban, which prohibits the purchase, sale and transfer of assault firearms and certain ammunition, motivated them to browse and shop at the event.

In the press release announcing the new laws, the governor said that restricting assault weapons and large-capacity magazines diminished the chances of mass shootings, since the weapons are disproportionately used in these events and the killings of law enforcement officers. Other laws addressed domestic violence, hate crimes, restoring background checks and efforts to protect children from accessing firearms.

Showmasters sets up the Richmond Gun Show at the Richmond Raceway typically six times a year. The Richmond Gun Show this past weekend saw thousands more shoppers than typically have come during its 52 years in operation – many of whom waited for hours for background checks, shopping for the kinds of arms that were to be banned next week, as well as related accessories.

On Saturday, more than 4,000 people visited the gun show, while about 2,200 showed up Sunday. Organizers said ticket sales numbers were up 33% because of the ban.

The Virginia State Police reported 1,311 background checks were performed by the VSP Firearms Transaction Center at the weekend show.

Henrico County Police officers at the event detained a person with active warrants attempting to purchase a firearm. A wanted person with active warrants was detained. A shoplifter was detained and issued a summons of petit larceny and was later released and then banned from the property.

In 2025, in Henrico County, there were a total of 263 firearm offenses, a number that has been decreasing from 2021, which clocked 380 firearm offenses.

Black men and boys face a firearm homicide rate that exceeds all other racial or ethnic groups, often dying by gun homicide at rates more than 20 times higher than their white male peers in certain age brackets, according to Brady a campaign to prevent gun violence.

Older white men make up the bulk of firearm suicides, according to The Trace. Women are disproportionately the victims of gun use in domestic settings, according to the Giffords organization. Other studies point to the secondhand risks of gun ownership.

'Spanberger sold a lot of guns'

At the Trader Jerry’s area of tables where the business with two locations in Virginia showed its wares, whole swaths of the display tables were bare on Sunday.

“Spanberger sold a lot of guns,” one Trader Jerry’s employee said.

“We’ve been very busy,” said Chad Cochran, one of the Trader Jerry’s owners.

Cochran said Trader Jerry’s has been coming to the Richmond Gun Show since 1992. He estimated the weekend event gave the business the biggest sales numbers they’ve ever seen.

“We’re up probably double where we usually are, but by the end of next week it's all over,” said Cochran.

“It’s a big infringement on our Second Amendment and it's going to be very detrimental to business. We're going to see anything that we have that's high capacity or a restricted item; there's no means to return it to. We're basically stuck with it. We could sell it out of state, but I don't do any of that right now.”

Cochran pointed to a half empty table of sought-after rifles that included a shotgun with a classical stock and pistol grip.

“That one won't be able to be bought. You can buy the same gun without the classical stock or pistol. Any of the AR-15s, that'll all be done,” Cochran said. “It was probably the most people I've seen here. Summertime's usually a little slower, but people are out getting their stuff. Before this legislation, demand for this stuff was probably an all-time low, but now it’s at an all-time high.”

In the next hall, Sean Stowell who sells body armor, optics and accessories along with Aris Daily, who sells drum magazines for automatic rifles, said they were exhausted by the crush of shoppers they saw this past weekend.

“The gun laws are definitely flooding people in. Saturday was insane. And even for it being a holiday, today it was something. They wanted to get as much as they could before the ban comes in,” Stowell said.

Annette Elliott, president of Showmasters, said she felt the intent of the laws was to not only prevent people from purchasing firearms but also put vendors out of business.

“They know this is unconstitutional,” said Elliott about the Virginia lawmakers, countering that guns are needed because there are millions of defensive gun use incidents.

She said the key to fighting crime is to put people who commit crimes away longer.

“A lot of recidivism, repeat offenders, the same guy keeps doing it over and over and over again, that guy needs to be kept in prison. The Democrats on the left put in DAs and prosecutors that are very soft on crime and release people. That's how we keep having people with 35 things on their rap sheet,” said Elliott who included in a list of criminality, news reports of undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes.

“I think it will all be found unconstitutional. They've already done the harm. They've already put all these small businesses out of business. There'll be a lot of people without money. It'll be very hard to get a weapon. It'll be more expensive.”

As the Richmond Gun Show wound down, buyers were still waiting for background checks at some of the vendor’s tables. Some said they had been waiting for hours.

In the parking lot, a diverse group of five men stood around a trunk of a car in the blazing sun looking at one of the men’s automatic rifle purchases still in its box – the DPMS brand “Kitty Kat” model.

“Rifles were flying off the shelves today; Same thing yesterday. As soon as they opened, people were already purchasing rifles,” said the new gun owner, who gave his name as Jason.

He had paid about $800 for the gun and waited five hours for his background check. He said he would take his new weapon to a gun range. With .300 Blackout, a popular .30-caliber ammunition cartridge designed for the AR-15 platform, the Kitty Kat “was created to deliver heavy, powerful and accurate performance out of short barrels” according to an online description which said the weapon excels in suppressed, close-quarters shooting.

“You can use it to hunt intermediate to medium-sized animal game,” Jason said.

Gun Owners Foundation, Gun Owners of America and the Virginia Citizens Defense League Foundation’s court hearing for their lawsuit against Virginia’s Assault Weapons Ban is scheduled for June 25 in the Lancaster County Circuit Court, about two hours east of Henrico County.

Showmasters holds the Tidewater Gun Show this weekend at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. And the Gun Show at the Richmond Raceway is scheduled to return the weekend of Aug. 22.

Dina Weinstein is the Citizen’s community vitality reporter and a Report for America corps member, covering housing, health and transportation. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.