Earlier this year the governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands called on lawmakers to revamp the island’s gun laws, declaring that the restrictive policies have failed to make the territory a safe place.
“We should move to a place where we open gun ranges that are legal and we make it easier for people to license and carry firearms,” Gov. Albert Bryan, Jr. told a local paper. Instead, lawmakers are advancing a bill that would force many gun owners to get rid of their firearms or else face criminal charges. From NRA-ILA:
The 36th Legislature of the US Virgin Islands is continuing to advance sweeping gun control measures. Tomorrow morning, the Committee on Rules and Judiciary will meet to discuss Bill No. 36-0144.
The bill mandates individuals surrender certain firearms to local law enforcement authorities, transfer the firearm to an FFL, or otherwise transfer the firearm outside of the territory’s jurisdiction. It also prohibits the possession of certain semi-automatic firearms and suppressors, and even goes so far as to require individuals to undergo safety training and receive a permit before owning or possessing certain rifles and shotguns. Additionally, the bill prohibits the sale of certain firearm accessories and arbitrarily limits magazine capacities to a maximum of ten (10) rounds.
Good luck finding the actual text of this bill online, by the way. The U.S. Virgin Islands legislative website doesn’t provide the language of any bills, but at least some of the details of Bill No. 36-0144 have been reported in the local media.
As Bryan detailed back in January, many people “can’t get a legal gun, because the system [requires so much] rigmarole in order to get these legal guns.” Residents who are otherwise law-abiding citizens will break the law in order to obtain a firearm to protect themselves and their families, which is why the governor wants to make it easier to exercise the right to keep and bear arms.
He envisioned “a system that wasn’t so resistant, where you could go to a range, you take a gun class, you get a ticket to purchase a firearm, you get it registered and licensed, we have the ballistics on it, then it wouldn’t have any need for all these illegal guns coming into the territory, right?”
… Governor Bryan says the current restrictive regime only serves to criminalize many young Virgin Islanders seeking to exercise their second amendment rights. He told a story about a man with no previous criminal record, who was jailed for 15 years without parole after pleading guilty to gun and ammunition charges. “They told him he’d probably get three years for the possession…where is the justice in that?” Governor Bryan asked. “We setting up our young people to fail.”
Bill No. 36-0144 would only make matters even worse by adding additional mandates before Virgin Islanders can exercise a fundamental civil right. Bryan could always veto the legislation if it’s ), but the unicameral legislature can override that veto with a 2/3rds majority of its 15 members (12 of whom are Democrats).
The gun control lobby hasn’t been vocal about supporting the bill, but none of them have said anything about the restrictions going too far either. They seem intent on letting this fly under the radar for now, so it’s good that the NRA and GOA have been raising awareness about the 2A infringements contained in the legislation. Hopefully this terrible bill can be defeated outright, but given the makeup of the legislature I’m not holding my breath.
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