The U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division's Second Amendment Section announced federal lawsuits on Wednesday against gun bans in two states. 

The first suit, U.S. v. Bonta, has California Attorney General Robert Bonta as a defendant in his official capacity and was filed in the U.S. Central District of California. The second suit, U.S. v. Virginia, was filed in the U.S. Central District of Virginia's Richmond Division. 

The cases challenge California's ban on Glock-style handguns and Virginia's ban on popular semi-auto firearms, both of which became law on July 1. 
 
In both cases, the DOJ publicly warned the states that legal action would follow should the bans become law. 

"On April 10, I promised Governor Spanberger that we would sue Virginia if she signed this unconstitutional weapons ban into law. I keep my promises,” said U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon. "Law-abiding Americans should not have to live under threat of criminal sanction for simply exercising their Second Amendment right to possess arms owned by millions of their fellow citizens."

Meanwhile, Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said plainly that, "The Second Amendment is a sacred right belonging to all Americans, even those in California. California cannot ban the most popular type of handgun in America."

At a press conference announcing the suits, Blanche also referenced the recent unanimous Supreme Court ruling in Wolford v Lopez, which is set to overturn Hawaii's so-called "Vampire Rule" in "gun-free zones." Several states have similar laws. 

"If we have to sue them, of course, we will, and they should be sued," said Blanche said at a news conference Wednesday. “But it shouldn’t take this Department of Justice telling a state they’re violating the Constitution when the Supreme Court [already] told them they were."