Virgin Island Officials Mostly Mum About DOJ Suing Over Gun Laws

Officials in the U.S. Virgin Islands are well aware of the Department of Justice’s new lawsuit challenging many of the territory’s asinine gun laws, but so far they’re not saying much about it. 

The DOJ’s lawsuit accuses the USVI of infringing on residents’ Second Amendment rights in a variety of ways; from taking a year or more to process applications for the license required to possess a firearm in the home to the warrantless searches the VIPD can conduct to determine if lawfully-owned firearms are being stored in bolted-down safes as required under territorial law. 

Government House issued a statement in response to media inquiries, acknowledging the filing and outlining the administration’s position. “Government House is aware of a complaint filed Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, by the U.S. Department of Justice against the Government of the Virgin Islands, the Virgin Islands Police Department and Police Commissioner Mario Brooks in his official capacity,” the statement said.

The statement noted that the V.I. Department of Justice is reviewing the federal complaint in coordination with the VIPD. It also stressed the administration’s commitment to “protecting constitutional rights while maintaining public safety,” and indicated that further comment would be limited because the matter is now before the courts. “Because this matter is pending litigation, we will not comment further at this time,” the statement added.

The Virgin Islands Consortium newspaper reports that the “Bryan-Roach Administration has framed its approach as a defense of constitutional rights and public safety, even as it prepares to mount a legal defense to the claims raised by the Department of Justice,” but I can’t help but wonder how vociferously USVI Governor Albert Bryan will actually defend the challenged gun control provisions. 

Back in January, Bryan declared that the territory’s gun control laws have “totally failed” to curb violent crime, and called on lawmakers to make it easier for people to legally own a gun. 

“What happens is – when you tell somebody no, the temptation is more,” Governor Bryan argued, referring to the territory’s strict gun ownership regulations. “The states with the toughest gun laws get the highest homicide rates,” he declared.

“I think 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,” Governor Bryan stated. He argued that the percentage of Virgin Islanders who carry unregistered weapons for reasons of ill-intent is very small, while the majority of residents carry firearms because “they’re trying to protect themselves, or feel protected.”

Bryan went on to tell the Consortium that the current laws turn many young Virgin Islanders into criminals when they seek to exercise their Second Amendment rights, sharing an anecdote about one young man with no criminal record who was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, without the possibility of parole, simply for possessing a firearm and ammunition witthout a license.  criminal record, who was jailed for 15 years without parole 

“Where is the justice in that?” the governor asked, adding. “We setting up our young people to fail.”

Virgin Island lawmakers turned a deaf ear to Bryan’s pleas, and instead have been working on a bill banning so-called assault weapons and large capacity magazines that would compel owners to turn their guns over to police or remove them from the territory, as well as mandating training for anyone hoping to purchase a long gun in the future. 

To be fair, Bryan still supports all kind of gun laws that are unacceptable to Second Amendment advocates, but he at least recognizes that the draconian laws currently in place are doing a better job of curtailing legal gun ownership than illegal gun possession. The DOJ’s lawsuit gives Bryan an opportunity to lead the charge to repeal the challenged provisions in USVI statute… and to go even further in establishing that the Second Amendment isn’t a second-class right in the territory. 

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

Help us continue to report on and expose the Democrats’ gun control policies and schemes. Join Bearing Arms VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.