Pro-gun groups led by the National Rifle Association are warning that Tuesday’s election of progressive Democrats could turn the liberal dream of sweeping gun bans into reality.
“It’s time to wake up,” said a new ad issued by the NRA that features anti-gun pledges made by three key Democrats elected on Tuesday.
Pro-Second Amendment groups fear that a ban on “assault weapons” such as AR-15s is more likely in Virginia with the election of Abigail Spanberger as governor and a bigger Democratic majority in the Assembly.
Wake up.
— NRA (@NRA) November 6, 2025
The fight starts now. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/itkMkstcCx
And bans on all guns and accessories such as “high capacity” magazines that hold cartridges could be coming in New Jersey with the election of liberal Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill and in New York City after Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor.
“We’ve been sounding the alarm that progressive politicians are planning an insurgency in American politics,” said Doug Hamlin, CEO and executive vice president of the NRA. “The far-left has taken a chokehold on the Democrat Party, calling for radical gun control policies that seek to disarm law-abiding citizens. The NRA is preparing for this all-out fight ahead of the midterms,” he added.
“It’s time for law-abiding gun owners to wake up,” said John Commerford, executive director of NRA-ILA, the group’s lobbying arm. Tuesday’s elections, he said, are “another reminder that the freedoms we hold dear are always only an election away from destruction.”
In Virginia, for example, Democrats have passed an assault weapon ban, but Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed it. Now it appears to have clear sailing ahead.
Another top gun rights group agreed, telling Washington Secrets that it appears likely that a ban will be passed. Virginia is home to the NRA.
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The new NRA ad features Spanberger, Mamdani, Sherrill, and former Vice President Kamala Harris promoting gun bans.
The ad urges members and supporters to join the NRA’s bid to fight back in the congressional midterm elections, where it is expected that Democrats will make a national push for an assault weapons ban like the one former President Bill Clinton instituted in 1994.
