FTC Chairman Accuses Virginia State Police of Stalling Gun Buyers as Pre-Ban Surge Swamps the System

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

RICHMOND, VA — The chairman of the Federal Trade Commission says the Virginia State Police are stonewalling gun buyers, and a top Justice Department official says Washington is watching.

Andrew Ferguson, who chairs the FTC and once served as Virginia’s solicitor general, posted Saturday that he visited a Virginia gun dealer and found the State Police “delaying background checks en masse.” He called it one of the most flagrant rights violations he has seen and accused the agency of helping disarm Americans.

Just visited my neighborhood gun dealer in Virginia. The Virginia State Police @VSPPIO is delaying background checks en masse in one of the most flagrant violations of our rights that I've seen. This is outrageous. Our police are aiding radical leftists to disarm Americans.…

— Andrew Ferguson (@AFergusonFTC) June 28, 2026

We are all over this and other gun-grabbing nonsense nationally. Stay tuned! https://t.co/Vf4kZOMnWR

— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) June 28, 2026

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general who runs the DOJ Civil Rights Division, replied within hours that her office is “all over this” nationally. The division has already signaled interest in Virginia’s gun-control push and hinted at suing over the state’s new firearm ban.

Here is the part the post leaves out.

The most prominent gun-rights voice in the state is not convinced the delays are deliberate. Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, said plainly that he is “not convinced that the delays are intentional.” He pointed instead to a wave of buying that has buried the system.

I don’t want to be unfair to the Virginia State Police. I’m not convinced that the delays are intentional. What has happened is gun sales have exploded every place I go. Every gun store is packed. Gun shows are packed. I just don’t think VSP and their computer system is geared…

— Philip Van Cleave VCDL (@VCDL_ORG) June 28, 2026

The numbers back him up. NICS checks in Virginia this May ran about double last May’s total, and dealers report lines out the door. By one estimate from Bearing Arms, sales are running three to four times above normal as buyers grab firearms they expect to lose.

Why the rush? Virginia’s “assault firearm” and magazine ban, SB749, was set to take effect July 1. A Lancaster County judge blocked it statewide on June 25 in Crump v. Katz, the case I have been following since gun owners filed it. But Attorney General Jay Jones is appealing and seeking an emergency stay, and the injunction binds only the State Police, not local prosecutors. Buyers in much of the state still had every reason to act before Wednesday.

More from USA Carry:

• CCW Applications Surge, Leaving 6,000 in Limbo in a Pennsylvania County
• Increased Wait Times for CCW Permits in Western North Carolina
• Mistakes to Avoid for the First-Time Gun Buyer
• Brewer Vetoes Arizona Bill Allowing Guns on Public Property
• Senate Democrats Push “No Check, No Sale” Gun Bill That Could Stall Legal Purchases Indefinitely

That surge is the likeliest cause of what Ferguson saw at the counter. A foreseeable spike met an agency that, by every appearance, never staffed up for it.

I am not going to tell you the State Police are running a secret disarmament scheme, because the evidence is not there. What the evidence shows is a government that passed a sweeping ban, set off a buying panic, then left lawful Virginians waiting while the system it controls fell behind.

This is the same pattern Virginia gun owners have watched all spring. Thirteen commonwealth’s attorneys and counting have refused to enforce the ban. Courts have blocked it. And now the demand created by Richmond’s own law is choking the checkpoint every dealer sale has to clear.

I will keep tracking the appeal in Crump v. Katz and whether the Justice Department moves from posts to filings.