Federal charges filed against a Virginia man accused of illegally selling the gun used in a recent shooting at Old Dominion University are intensifying scrutiny of the state’s now-defunct universal background check law — and raising new questions about whether the violence could have been prevented.
The case comes as Virginia’s background check requirement for most private firearm sales remains invalidated following an October ruling by a Lynchburg-area circuit court, a decision that still stands after an appellate court declined to revive the law.
Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, who sought to intervene after then-Attorney General Jason Miyares did not defend the statute, said the consequences of that decision were significant…