John Commerford is the Executive Director for the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA). The NRA-ILA serves as the NRA’s dedicated lobbying and political advocacy arm. Established in 1975, it is committed to preserving and protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens by ensuring their ability to purchase, possess, and use firearms for legitimate purposes, such as self-defense, hunting, and sport shooting.
NRA-ILA engages in a range of activities to achieve this goal. It actively lobbies lawmakers at the federal, state, and local levels to promote pro-gun legislation and oppose restrictive gun control measures. This includes tracking and influencing legislation, providing testimony, and mobilizing grassroots efforts through member alerts and volunteer networks such as NRA-ILA FrontLines. The organization also monitors and reports on gun-related laws, maintains state-by-state gun law resources, and educates the public on firearm policy issues through its website (nraila.org), publications, and fact sheets.
Additionally, NRA-ILA plays a key role in the political process by evaluating and grading candidates based on their positions on gun rights, issuing endorsements, and operating the NRA Political Victory Fund (a political action committee) to support aligned candidates. It participates in legal efforts to defend Second Amendment protections, including supporting or initiating court challenges to perceived infringements.
AmmoLand News sat down with Mr. Commerford to discuss what is happening in the Commonwealth of Virginia, which, once again, seems to have become ground zero for the gun control debate.
Crump: I’m just going to jump right into it. And the first question is fairly simple: What is the NRA doing about combating the bad gun bills in Virginia?
Commerford: Our full-time staff is at the General Assembly in Richmond, along with contractors we’ve hired, in addition to activating our members across the Commonwealth to contact their lawmakers, make their voices heard, and make sure they know exactly how many lawful Americans across the Commonwealth are going to be impacted by this terrible legislation.
Crump: It seems like some of the bills are having a really hard time getting through. For example, the suppressor tax bill. There was another bill that just died today in committee, the permit to purchase bill. There are several other bills that have been scrapped or delayed. Is pushback from gun owners the reason why these bills are having a hard time getting through, or is it something else?
Commerford: Well, the pressure is working, and gun owners all across the Commonwealth need to keep up that pressure, even gun owners who visit Virginia, call the legislature, make it known that this is going to impact you. Last week, I received a call from an employee at the General Assembly who asked us to stop listing the phone number for the switchboard there, because they’re getting 1000s of phone calls. It’s affecting their ability to do business, to which I said, “Well, you know, you should ask your boss about that in the new Governor Abigail Spanberger.” So, I think the pressure works.
They started the session with all these big, grand ideas about how they can change the Commonwealth in the image of the progressive, radical left, and then all those voters who didn’t show up at the polls have now woken up and are actively calling their lawmaker. They’re commenting on social media, they’re sending emails, they’re sending letters, they’re visiting the offices. That has an impact. It starts to change the tone of the conversation, and that needs to continue.
Crump: All right, so you believe that gun owners calling and getting involved is what can stem the tide of all these anti-gun laws in Virginia?
Commerford: That’s a huge component to it. Another component is Abigail Spanberger’s future aspirations if she wants to be President of the United States, wholesale banning the most popular firearms in the Commonwealth? I don’t know if that’s her best ticket to the White House in her future campaigns, but this is a critically important week.
Folks need to pay attention because if anything passes this week, it will go to her desk, and she will only have 7 days to decide whether to sign it, let it become law, or veto it. After this week, it gets out of the seven-day window.
Crump: What anti-gun laws do you see getting through?
Commerford: Well, we hope that nothing gets through. However, we do live in reality, and we’re seeing what’s happening. I think there is a variation of hardware bands that will make it to her desk. There’s a variation of the firearms industry liability bill that will make it to her desk, and some others. However, there are changes; the suppressor tax has died. They’ve punted the 11% excise tax to the next year. The permit to purchase was stripped out of the bill this morning, and it’s now a ban on young adults buying pistols and so-called assault firearms. So, there’s a lot of activity here over the next few days that is really going to determine what we see going to her desk.
Crump: Yeah, you bring up the bill being modified to strip those 18 to 20-year-olds of the right to buy a pistol. In the universal background check case, it was partially knocked down because of the Equal Protection Clause, since 18-year-olds can only buy handguns through private sales. Do you think that they’re trying to change that law so they can return universal background checks in the future?
Commerford: Yeah, I think they will do anything they can to try to return to that regime. However, I think they have other shiny objects that they’re looking at in this session. I mean, look, we’ve seen what their priorities have been over the last two years, and thanks to Governor Youngkin, they have been vetoed, but now they have a willing participant in the Governor’s mansion. So, there are going to be numerous things put on her desk, and I think in the future, they will be exploring universal background checks further. But right now, we’re focused on what is heading to her desk, and we’re focused on having our lawyers get to work on legal challenges, because that’s where this fight is going to be. Anything that makes it across their desk and is then enacted in the law, we will be working to challenge.
Crump: That was my next question about legal challenges.
Commerford: We’re involved in more than 60 cases currently, and we’re going to be adding to that list with both a state and a federal challenge. There’s a conservative-leaning Supreme Court in Virginia on the state level. And of course, you know, we need to have federal challenges, and you have a willing Department of Justice under President Trump that has weighed in on state-level challenges to violations of our Second Amendment rights. So, we are looking forward to a team effort across all pro-Second Amendment groups, the DOJ, and others to try to fix the injustice we think is going to happen in Richmond.
Crump: Article I, Section 13 in the Virginia Constitution is very strong when it comes to gun rights. How is that going to play into any future litigation?
Commerford: We are absolutely focused on a state challenge and a federal challenge. Virginia is one of those unique states where the legislature is left-dominated, and the Supreme Court is conservative-leaning. So, the vehicle is there with exactly what you said with the state constitution, that we can attack any of these infringements in state law. We’re fully exploring those options now. As soon as standing exists to challenge them, we will do so.
Crump: How important is defeating the redistricting efforts in Virginia? They’re trying to make it ten to one for Democrats. How important is defeating that referendum in April?
Commerford: It’s incredibly important. I mean, if anyone who looks at the map knows how ridiculous it is what they’re trying to do, they’re trying to silence the voice of a huge amount of Virginians. I mean, Fairfax County alone will have five different congressional districts across the voters. Voters need to shoot that down.
That’s the first chance that gun owners and conservative voters have to voice their displeasure and bring this new, radical left General Assembly into reality. A lot of people sat at home in this last election. It wasn’t a mandate on the policies that they proposed, but folks were happy that President Trump won, we had majorities in the House and Senate, and they tend to stay home while the other side is motivated. And this is the first chance that gun owners will have to bring the lawmakers back to reality. And if, God forbid, it goes through, they’ll have another chance in November to make them regret the decision they made, because they’re spreading the paint very thin in a few of these districts, so there’s a chance that Republicans can get the upset as well.
Crump: Do you think the anti-gun groups are shifting their focus to the states, since they have failed on the federal level?
Commerford: We saw for years a focus of resources from the gun control community. I mean, look, first, they have unlimited resources from billionaires like Michael Bloomberg, so they have the ability to do that. But second, when we see their involvement in elections over the last few cycles, they weren’t focusing on gun control. They’re focusing on abortion and other issues that are not germane. They’re not like the gun groups like NRA, where we are single issue, and we’re only focused on the Second Amendment. They will go after whatever popular issue du jour the day is motivating the radical left. But they are fully focused on the states. We see them sometimes with paid volunteers in in the state houses and others.
They are well funded, but we have true volunteer activists. That’s why all gun owners need to be motivated, showing up at the State House and calling their lawmaker.
Crump: We’re seeing places like California trying to shut down 3d printed firearms nationwide by using California law. What is the NRA’s take on that?
Commerford: We fully support home-manufactured firearms. No state should limit the ability of a law-abiding individual to make the firearm of their choice. And it’s plain and simple, but we continue to see the evolution of the deep blue states to try to vilify firearm owners in any manner possible.
Crump: And final question I have for you. Some have suggested the NRA should abandon its Virginia headquarters and move to a state like Texas. What are your thoughts on that?
Commerford: We have a long-established history. Here at our headquarters in Virginia, we have a world-class, truly world-unique museum in the National Firearms Museum. We have a fully operational shooting range. It’s open to the public. We also have an office on Capitol Hill in DC. We didn’t abandon DC with that office when times got tough. So, we’re going to stay here. We’re going to defend our freedoms. At some point, they may force us out, but it’s not going to be without a fight.
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About John Crump
Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
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