Photo by Ryan Holloway Photography.

We’d imagine it’d be a lot like what’s happening this week. Residents of the Old Dominion will be subject to a bulk supply of new laws come this Wednesday — some important, some, uh, not so much. (Don’t get me wrong: I’m sure that Virginia residents are all very concerned about the new prohibition restricting “stores from selling novelty cigarette lighters to those under 18,” but we’re going to skip over that one for the time being.)

The two big areas that this dossier of legislation covers? Guns and texting while driving. While most will probably agree that the new law restricting drivers from texting and emailing while behind the wheel is a bit of a no-brainer and almost a carbon copy of the District law prohibiting the same, the gun issues are sure to be a bit more sticky, especially in Northern Virginia. Virginians will now not be allowed public access to the database of those in the state with concealed handgun permits; the new laws also require that localities purchasing guns as part of a buyback program attempt to sell those weapons to authorized dealers before destroying them.

Additionally, laws allowing political paraphernalia at polling stations and new truancy punishments tied to driver’s licenses also go into effect mid-week.