As Virgin Islands Gets New Gun Control Law, Part of It Might Already Be Invalid

The U.S. Virgin Islands don’t seem to consider themselves part of the United States. The reason I say that is that while it’s not a state, but a territory, it makes a lot of gun control moves that ignore the Second Amendment. Granted, a lot of states do so as well, so I probably shouldn’t jump to conclusions.

The thing is, the governor there just passed a new gun control law that is, frankly, awful. Hypothetically, it was supposed to help gun owners, but it failed in almost every conceivable way, as Cam noted earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the Virgin Islands Safe Gun Owners brought up a point that seems pretty important in the wake of the Wolford decision.

In a press release, VISGO noted:

The Virgin Islands Safe Gun Owners (“VISGO”) today warned that Governor Albert Bryan Jr.’s approval of Act No. 9113 on June 24, 2026 creates an immediate and avoidable public-safety and constitutional crisis for vendors, families, and lawful firearm owners participating in the St. John Fourth of July Celebration. Today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Wolford v. Lopez, No. 24-1046 (U.S. June 25, 2026), confirms that the government may not use modern default-rule traps or public-safety labels to burden licensed carry for self-defense.

In Wolford, the Supreme Court struck down Hawaii’s law prohibiting licensed concealed-carry permit holders from carrying handguns on private property open to the public without the property owner’s express authorization, holding that the law violated the Second and Fourteenth Amendments. The ruling reinforces the core rule of Bruen: once the Second Amendment’s text covers the conduct, the government must justify the burden through this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation, not modern interest balancing.

Virgin Islands Act 9113 now creates the same kind of practical trap for Virgin Islanders at public celebrations. Section 453(i)(8) prohibits carrying a firearm “at special events open to the public, including carnival or festival,” if the Commissioner provides advance notice and posted signage. Section 451(e) defines “carry” to include having a licensed firearm on one’s person or readily accessible for immediate use outside one’s residence or one’s own privately owned or leased real property. If VIPD posts the St. John Celebration as a gun-free special event, a licensed vendor carrying a lawful defensive firearm while closing a booth, handling cash, protecting family, or walking back to a vehicle could be treated as a criminal.

“Governor Bryan just made the Fourth of July Celebration a target-rich environment if VIPD posts this event as gun-free,” said Kosei Ohno, Founder and Lead of VISGO. “The vendors are the ones working late, handling cash, feeding the public, and protecting their families and businesses after the crowds leave. Criminals will not obey a sign. Act 9113 disarms the good people and leaves the bad people free to choose their targets.”

These festivals, as being little different from a business open to the public, create a situation where the default calls for everyone to be disarmed, regardless of what organizers or property owners might want. In a way, this goes even beyond the vampire rule that was at the heart of the Wolford case because it doesn’t seem the law in question even allows a privately hosted festival on private land to allow firearms if they so desire.

However, the ban doesn’t apply to something that people may need to access as part of their daily matters, which I suspect at least some courts will argue makes it different enough that Wolford doesn’t apply.

However, as noted by Ohno above, such an application wouldn’t just impact attendees, but also the vendors, who will be there well after the festivals close, will have a significant amount of cash, and will be left defenseless because the rules say they can’t carry a gun during the event, which will have ramifications for them after it’s closed for the night.

Nothing about that is right or just, nor is it right that people who want to go to a festival, particularly on Independence Day, will be forced to be disarmed, not just at the event, but likely on their way to and from it. Plus, I find it a little ironic that rights may well be denied on the day we celebrate our independence from England, which kicked off the American Revolution by marching to Lexington and Concord to take the colonists’ arms.

Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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