Yeah, It Must Suck to Be an Anti-Gunner in Virgin Islands These Days

We’ve been covering the anti-gun shenanigans in the U.S. Virgin Islands for quite awhile now. As an American territory, lawmakers there are bound by the same constitutional limits as any state, but like so many states, they think the Second Amendment doesn’t apply to them.

So, they keep trying to tighten the noose on the right to keep and bear arms.

Lately, though, as we’ve noted previously, they’re not having the best string of luck. In fact, based on everything we’re seeing, it must really suck to be an anti-gunner there right now unless you have a…certain fondness for being humiliated, let’s just say.

Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners Foundation announced Monday they were suing the Caribbean Sea territory over its ban on possession of firearms by non-residents. The pro-Second Amendment groups noted the territory had rescinded what limited recognition it previously gave to people with concealed carry permits in the complaint filed with the United States District Court of the Virgin Islands, leaving people the choice of going defenseless or facing a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. 

…

The new lawsuit follows a Friday ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that struck down New Jersey’s ban on so-called “assault weapons,” expanding an order by a federal district judge that ruled that the AR-15 rifle was protected by the Second Amendment to also cover other semiautomatic rifles as well as standard capacity magazines. The decision affects a similar law the Virgin Islands enacted in June, despite warnings that the appellate court’s decision was pending.

…

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon announced litigation against the territorial police department in December, accusing the agency of imposing “unreasonable conditions” and using a “good cause” standard that the Supreme Court invalidated in the Bruen decision when issuing firearms licenses.

The territory’s attorneys have even taken heat from United States District Judge Evan Rikhye of the District Court of the Virgin Islands, who chastised attorneys representing the territory for filing a response six days after the deadline in a Saturday ruling, calling it an “inexcusable lapse.”

“The Court notes with disappointment Defense counsel’s glaring lack of attention to basic litigation procedures,” Rikhye wrote as he denied the territory’s request for additional time.

Honestly, it’s downright laughable what they’re trying to play there, but it’s not actually funny because every move they make affects real people just trying to live their lives. Every gun control law does the same thing, all while criminals continue to get guns easily enough. 

The fact that the territory’s attorneys can’t even meet a filing deadline, though, kind of makes you wonder just what kind of legal advice lawmakers are getting before trying any of this stuff. Are these the same attorneys? If so, and they don’t know enough to file on time, maybe they’re also too stupid to recognize that the Second Amendment applies to them.

I honestly don’t know, but I’m going to sit here and smile at their misfortune. Schadenfreude may not be a noble thing, but I can’t help it. They deserve for me to revel in their misfortunes, especially since those misfortunes will actually make the islands safer than they were.

What I think lawmakers in the territory need to do is fire their attorneys—just clean house entirely with no survivors except for maybe the receptionist—and then find some that actually understand the constitutional limits on government authority, particularly when it comes to the right to keep and bear arms.

Failing that, maybe they should just stop with this gun control crap, because they suck at it.

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.

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