A sweeping gun control bill making its way through the legislature in the U.S. Virgin Islands would not only ban the sale of most semi-automatic long guns but require existing owners to pay $1,000 per firearm in order to continue legally possessing their rifles.
As my colleague Tom Knighton reported last week, Gun Owners of America's Luis Valdes has been speaking out in opposition to the proposal, which is facing a vote later today in the Rules and Judiciary Committee. Among those expected to testify in opposition is Kosei Ohno, a gun owner with a business in the territory who's also suing the Virgin Islands Police Commissioner for rejecting his renewal application for firearms licenses until he obtains a Virgin Islands driver's license.
Luis Valdes, Southeast Regional director for Gun Owners of America, told the Source Saturday that his organization became involved after members in the Virgin Islands reached out, including Kosei Ohno, a co-owner of Crown Bay Marina, who said he and other local safe gun owners were not given an opportunity to testify on the bill. Ohno, in a separate call with the Source, spoke about the burden for gun owners of complying with the proposed law, particularly the $1,000 registration fee per firearm for individuals who already lawfully own multiple weapons. Ohno has also said his stance on owning and carrying a firearm boils down to safety, especially for marina tenants.
For Valdes, however, the problem goes deeper. “This is gun control, plain and simple,” he said. “When you restrict someone from carrying a firearm outside their home, require exorbitant registration fees, and define assault weapons so broadly that even cosmetic features trigger a ban, you’re not regulating, you’re banning.”
Valdes, who said he spent 15 years in law enforcement in Miami, framed the bill as an example of failed policy, arguing that the Virgin Islands already has some of the strictest gun laws in the United States while also ranking near the top in homicide rates. “That should tell you something,” he said. “Gun control doesn’t work. Criminals don’t follow the law. All this does is punish the law-abiding while the bad guys keep their weapons.” He confirmed that GOA has already drafted a letter to Sen. Carla Joseph, chair of the Rules Committee, requesting to testify when the measure comes up for consideration.
Valdes is absolutely correct. Proponents of the bill claim that so-called assault weapons have become the gun of choice for criminals in the USVI, with Sen. Novelle Francis alleging that guns are selling for "about $5,000 to $6,000" on the black market. If that's true, that suggests that criminals are already finding it difficult to obtain those guns, and it would be legal gun owners who feel the impact of the gun ban bill. In fact, one official with the Virgin Islands PD even acknowledged during testimony that a large portion of the guns seized by police are illegally manufactured in the territory and sold on the black market.
Supporters of the measure insist that it is not a blanket ban on gun ownership but a targeted effort to remove the most dangerous weapons from circulation. Joseph himself told colleagues during the hearing that the bill “does not prevent law-abiding citizens from carrying firearms or keeping them for home protection,” arguing instead that it is designed to curb weapons that have been repeatedly linked to shootings in the territory.
We are not trying to take away people’s rights,” Joseph said, framing the bill as a response to what he called a growing crisis of firepower on Virgin Islands streets. In a call with the Source Sunday night, he explained the proposal had been developed with VIPD since January, not drawn up at random, and that the weapons it targets — large-capacity rifles capable of firing multiple rounds in rapid succession — are not the kind that belong on the streets.
The fact that this gun ban plan has been in the works for months doesn't make it any better (or constitutional). We're still talking about prohibiting the sale of some of the most popular firearms in the country, while imposing registration fees that are blatantly meant to make it unfeasible for most existing owners to maintain possession of their legally purchased rifles.
I've not been able to see the current text of the bill because the USVI legislature's website is apparently down, so I don't know if owners of so-called large capacity magazines are also grandfathered in (albeit at exorbitant prices), or if they're expected to hand those magazines over to police or modify them to comply, but either option would also infringe on the fundamental right to keep and bear arms.
The U.S. Virgin Islands already has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country, yet its homicide rate is well above the national average. Lawmakers should be looking at ways to go after violent criminals instead of attacking the Second Amendment. Legislators might feel compelled to "do something", but this bad idea will only make things worse for those residents who want to protect themselves and their families from the predators who see them as easy prey.
Editor’s Note: The attacks on our Second Amendment rights keep coming, and we'll never stop defending those rights.
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