Two gun rights nonprofits — Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners Foundation — have taken the U.S. Virgin Islands government and its police commissioner to federal court in a growing battle over Second Amendment rights in U.S. territories.
The organizations are asking a federal judge to require the territory to allow nonresidents to apply for and receive licenses to carry concealed handguns.
According to the lawsuit, filed this week, Florida resident Sean Dale Henry — a member of Gun Owners of America and a supporter of Gun Owners Foundation — made multiple phone calls to the U.S. Virgin Islands police department in an effort to apply for a concealed carry license, but was never able to reach anyone.
“Henry has been unable to get the USVI police to so much as pick up the telephone,” the lawsuit states. “The fact that the USVI police do not answer their phone makes (Henry’s) need to keep and bear arms for his own self-defense all the more vital.”
A representative for the territory’s government had not responded to a request for comment as of the time of this report.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday, notes that Henry intends to visit the U.S. Virgin Islands at least twice in the coming months and wants to bring a concealed firearm for personal protection.
Luis Valdes, the U.S. Virgin Islands outreach director for Gun Owners of America, issued a statement defending the legal action. “The Second Amendment doesn’t end at the shoreline,” he said. “Americans don’t lose their constitutional rights simply because they travel to a U.S. territory.”
This is the second lawsuit the U.S. Virgin Islands government and its police commissioner have faced over Second Amendment issues. Back in December, the U.S. Justice Department filed its own suit against the territory, alleging that local laws were being used to systematically block American citizens from exercising their right to possess and carry firearms. Among the laws cited were requirements that applicants show “good reason to fear death or great injury” and produce “two credible persons” to vouch for their need for a gun.
At that time, the U.S. Virgin Islands government responded by saying it was “committed to protecting constitutional rights while maintaining public safety.”
However, in a court filing submitted in February, the territory pushed back hard against the federal government’s lawsuit. The U.S. Virgin Islands accused the U.S. government of coming to court “with unclean hands” and pointed to what it called widespread civil rights violations by federal law enforcement against citizens’ First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
“The United States of America cannot come to the court with unclean hands and seek to enjoin others while engaging in such blatant, violative, and abusive patterns and practices itself,” the filing stated.
That earlier case brought by the Justice Department remains ongoing in the courts.
