Senate Committee to Consider Gun Reform

“Unless otherwise prohibited by any state or federal law, a license to possess or to carry firearms, issued by any competent authority of any state or territory of the United States and in accordance with the same or similar requirements as set forth in the preceding sections pertaining to the applicant's eligibility, and the establishment of his reputation through fingerprints, shall be recognized as valid within the Virgin Islands and shall allow the holder thereof to exercise all of the privileges in connection therewith, while said licensee is a visitor or transient resident herein.”

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Alma Francis Heyliger, seeks to strike that paragraph from the code, a notion that was largely supported by the 34th Legislature not too long ago.

During a session of the 34th Legislature’s Committee of the Whole on April 15, 2021, lawmakers considered a gun-control proposal submitted to the legislature by Governor Albert Bryan, Jr. to amend several sections of Title 23, Chapter 5, which represents the firearms and ammunition policy of the United States Virgin Islands.

The Committee of the Whole thoroughly debated the Governor’s proposal during the session in mid-April, but lawmakers opted to deliberate further based on a number of outstanding concerns with the Governor’s proposal. Yet multiple lawmakers seemingly supported one portion of that proposal–the repeal of Section 460.

Under that section of the Territory’s firearms and ammunition law, the Virgin Islands permits individuals with licenses to possess or carry firearms from States or U.S. Territories “in accordance with the same or similar requirements as set forth in the preceding sections,” which notably does not define those jurisdictions.

According to the testimony from the Virgin Islands Police Department’s Commissioner at that time, that current stipulation allows at least 16 jurisdictions, ranging up to possibly 21 States or Territories, based on their own internal laws.

Those individuals may enter the Territory with default recognition of that firearms from the Virgin Islands government. The Virgin Islands recognizes entrants to the Territories who hold licenses from the following states: Tennessee, Massachusetts, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

While this allows easier access of firearms and ammunition into the Territory, it ultimately does not meet the terms of reciprocity when licensed gun owners from the Virgin Islands attempt to access the States and territories. The VIPD’s commissioner at that time had essentially admitted that the reciprocity carried little weight when Virgin Islanders transported licensed firearms to the mainland.

“So why are we doing it here?” wondered Senator Alma Francis Heyliger during the session.

Along with Sen. Francis Heyliger, most of the legislators in attendance during that COW session in mid-April 2021 heavily resisted any measure that would allow even more firearms to the Territory.

While lawmakers objected overall to the Governor’s proposal at that time, Sen. Francis Heyliger said she identified an area where all lawmakers almost unanimously agreed–stemming the flow of firearms and ammunition into the U.S. Virgin Islands and, maybe counterintuitively, protecting legal gun owners.

“I'm about protecting the rights of Virgin Islanders with legal firearms to a point but doing anything that would allow it to be easier to bring weapons into the territory. Now I have a problem with that” said Senator Samuel Carrion during the April 15th session. “And that's kind of insane.”

“We're trying to control weapon in our Territory but yet, we're going to allow folks in 21 more states to come through here. And we're not even talking like enforcement. We're talking about civilians,” said Senator Franklin D. Johnson.

“We're now opening up our doors for more guns to come in.”

Senator Kurt A. Vialet seemed to push the envelope later on during that session when he called for a complete repeal of Section 460, which addresses the reciprocal recognition of out-of-state firearms licenses:

“Section 460 needs to be repealed in its entirety,” said Sen. Vialet. “We should have no reciprocity for anyone coming to the Virgin Islands.”

The renewed consideration of that repeal will receive consideration from lawmakers on May 6th.