Kimberly Lafave v. County of Fairfax, Virginia

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedAugust 27, 2025
Docket24-1886
StatusPublished

This text of Kimberly Lafave v. County of Fairfax, Virginia (Kimberly Lafave v. County of Fairfax, Virginia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kimberly Lafave v. County of Fairfax, Virginia, (4th Cir. 2025).

Opinion

USCA4 Appeal: 24-1886 Doc: 84 Filed: 08/27/2025 Pg: 1 of 16

PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 24-1886

KIMBERLY LAFAVE; GLENN M. TAUBMAN; ROBERT HOLZHAUER,

Plaintiffs – Appellants,

v.

THE COUNTY OF FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA; KEVIN DAVIS, in his official capacity as Chief of Police,

Defendants – Appellees.

------------------------------

CITY OF RICHMOND; DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA; ILLINOIS; CALIFORNIA; COLORADO; CONNECTICUT; DELAWARE; HAWAII; MASSACHUSETTS; MINNESOTA; NEVADA; NEW JERSEY; NEW YORK; OREGON; PENNSYLVANIA; RHODE ISLAND; VERMONT; WASHINGTON; BRADY CENTER TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE; GIFFORDS LAW CENTER TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE,

Amici Supporting Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. William B. Porter, Magistrate Judge. (1:23−cv−01605−WBP)

Argued: May 7, 2025 Decided: August 27, 2025

Before DIAZ, Chief Judge, and GREGORY and AGEE, Circuit Judges. USCA4 Appeal: 24-1886 Doc: 84 Filed: 08/27/2025 Pg: 2 of 16

Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded with instructions by published opinion. Chief Judge Diaz wrote the opinion, in which Judge Gregory and Judge Agee joined.

ARGUED: Stephen Porter Halbrook, Fairfax, Virginia, for Appellants. Janet Rhiannon Carter, EVERYTOWN LAW, New York, New York, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Earl N. “Trey” Mayfield, III, CHALMERS, ADAMS, BACKER & KAUFMAN, LLC, Fairfax, Virginia, for Appellants. Elizabeth D. Teare, Daniel Robinson, John W. Burton, OFFICE OF THE COUNTY ATTORNEY, Fairfax, Virginia; Douglas R. Kay, Thomas W. Repczynski, Anders T. Sleight, OFFIT KURMAN, P.C., Tysons Corner, Virginia; William J. Taylor, Jr., Priyanka Gupta Sen, Erik P. Fredericksen, New York, New York, Sana S. Mesiya, EVERYTOWN LAW, Washington, D.C., for Appellees. Mary B. McCord, Washington, D.C., Ben Gifford, Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, GEORGETOWN LAW, Brooklyn, New York, for Amicus City of Richmond. Brian L. Schwalb, Attorney General, Caroline S. Van Zile, Solicitor General, Ashwin P. Phatak, Principal Deputy Solicitor General, Anne A. Deng, Assistant Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR THE DISTRICT COLUMBIA, Washington, D.C., for Amicus District of Columbia. Kwame Raoul, Attorney General, Jane Elinor Notz, Solicitor General, Sarah A. Hunger, Deputy Solicitor General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF ILLINOIS, Chicago, Illinois, for Amicus State of Illinois. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CALIFORNIA, Sacramento, California, for Amicus State of California. William Tong, Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CONNECTICUT, Hartford, Connecticut, for Amicus State of Connecticut. Anne E. Lopez, Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF HAWAII, Honolulu, Hawaii, for Amicus State of Hawaii. Keith Ellison, Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MINNESOTA, St. Paul, Minnesota, for Amicus State of Minnesota. Matthew J. Platkin, Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NEW JERSEY, Trenton, New Jersey, for Amicus State of New Jersey. Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF OREGON, Salem, Oregon, for Amicus State of Oregon. Peter F. Neronha, Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF RHODE ISLAND, Providence, Rhode Island, for Amicus State of Rhode Island. Robert W. Ferguson, Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF WASHINGTON, Olympia, Washington, for Amicus State of Washington. Philip J. Weiser, Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF COLORADO, Denver, Colorado, for Amicus State of Colorado. Kathleen Jennings, Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF DELAWARE, Wilmington, Delaware, for Amicus State of Delaware. Andrea Campbell, Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MASSACHUSETTS, Boston, Massachusetts, for Amicus Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Aaron D. Ford, Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NEVADA, Carson City, Nevada, for Amicus State of Nevada. Letitia James, Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NEW YORK, New York, New York, for Amicus State of New

2 USCA4 Appeal: 24-1886 Doc: 84 Filed: 08/27/2025 Pg: 3 of 16

York. Michelle A. Henry, Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF PENNSYLVANIA, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for Amicus Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Charity R. Clark, Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VERMONT, Montpelier, Vermont, for Amicus State of Vermont. George J. Hazel, Hayley N. Lawrence, Washington, D.C., Seton H. O’Brien, Jamie Miller, New York, New York, Caelin Moriarity Miltko, Denver, Colorado, Marie C. Baldwin, GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER LLP, Dallas, Texas; Douglas N. Letter, Shira Lauren Feldman, BRADY CENTER TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE, Washington, D.C.; Esther Sanchez- Gomez, Billy Clark, GIFFORDS LAW CENTER TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE, San Francisco, California, for Amici Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

3 USCA4 Appeal: 24-1886 Doc: 84 Filed: 08/27/2025 Pg: 4 of 16

DIAZ, Chief Judge:

In this case, we consider the so-called sensitive places doctrine, which allows the

government to restrict the presence of firearms in certain locations. Plaintiffs, a trio of

lawful gun owners, wish to bring their weapons to two such places where a Fairfax County,

Virginia ordinance prohibits them from doing so. The places at issue are, first, county

parks and, second, public spaces where (or near where) an event is taking place that

requires a county permit.

Plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of the County’s restrictions, based on the

Second Amendment as to both restrictions, and on the Fourteenth Amendment’s vagueness

doctrine as to the events restriction.

The district court granted summary judgment to the County, concluding (1) that

both restrictions regulate firearms in sensitive places consistent with the Second

Amendment, and (2) that the events restriction isn’t unconstitutionally vague. 1

We agree that Plaintiffs can’t succeed on their facial challenge to the ordinance’s

restriction on arms in parks, so we affirm the district court’s ruling on that front. But we

conclude that Plaintiffs lack standing to challenge the constitutionality of the events

restriction, so we vacate that part of the district court’s judgment.

1 Plaintiffs sued Fairfax County and its Chief of Police, Kevin Davis, in his official capacity. We refer to them together as “the County.”

4 USCA4 Appeal: 24-1886 Doc: 84 Filed: 08/27/2025 Pg: 5 of 16

I.

A.

The County’s ordinance prohibits “[t]he possession, carrying, or transportation of

any firearms, ammunition, or components or combination thereof” in various places.

Fairfax County, Va., Code § 6-2-1(A). 2 Among those places are “any public park owned

or operated by the County, or by any authority or local government entity created or

controlled by the County,” id. § 6-2-1(A)(2), and “any public street, road, alley, or sidewalk

or public right-of-way or any other place of whatever nature that is open to the public and

is being used by or is adjacent to a County-permitted event or an event that would otherwise

require a County permit,” id. § 6-2-1(A)(4).

Although the latter restriction references public streets and roads, it’s undisputed

that the events restriction only applies “on property that is . . . controlled or owned by

Fairfax County,” so it doesn’t generally apply on “public roadways, which are instead

controlled by the Virginia Department of Transportation.” J.A. 52 ¶ 11.

B.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Stevens
559 U.S. 460 (Supreme Court, 2010)
Babbitt v. United Farm Workers National Union
442 U.S. 289 (Supreme Court, 1979)
United States v. Salerno
481 U.S. 739 (Supreme Court, 1987)
District of Columbia v. Heller
554 U.S. 570 (Supreme Court, 2008)
McDonald v. City of Chicago
561 U.S. 742 (Supreme Court, 2010)
Bacon v. City of Richmond
475 F.3d 633 (Fourth Circuit, 2007)
Dennis Fusaro v. Michael Cogan
930 F.3d 241 (Fourth Circuit, 2019)
United States v. Rahimi
602 U.S. 680 (Supreme Court, 2024)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Kimberly Lafave v. County of Fairfax, Virginia, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kimberly-lafave-v-county-of-fairfax-virginia-ca4-2025.