Eighth Virginia Prosecutor Refuses Spanberger Gun Bans — Appomattox Joins the Line

Appomattox County Commonwealth's Attorney Leslie M. Fleet became the eighth Virginia prosecutor to announce he will not enforce Governor Abigail Spanberger's newly signed assault-weapons ban.

In a May 28 Facebook statement, Fleet said he and the local sheriff are in total agreement: neither will enforce SB 749 or Spanberger's public carry restrictions because both measures are unconstitutional on their face.

Fleet cited Bruen-era case law and said the bans fly against the Supreme Court's reading of the Second Amendment. He also pointed to his oath — first taken at 18 when he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, later renewed as a police officer and as Commonwealth's Attorney.

Spanberger signed SB 749 into law despite the General Assembly rejecting her amendments. She framed the ban as protecting families. Fleet's response is that elected prosecutors are not Richmond's enforcement arm when the statute itself fails constitutional scrutiny.

Seven other Commonwealth's Attorneys had already issued similar statements. The defiance wave is now county-by-county, sheriff-by-sheriff, and prosecutor-by-prosecutor — not a single headline from one rural jurisdiction.

That matters for Virginia gun owners watching July 1. Rights under paper law and rights under real-world enforcement are not the same thing when the officials who actually bring cases publicly refuse to play along.