By Lee Williams
SAF Investigative Journalism Project
The United States Virgin Islands (USVI) are beautiful, peaceful and serene as long as visitors don’t stray too far from the well-patrolled tourist areas.
For Virgin Islands residents, as well as any visitors who may wander out of the safe zones, the USVI can be a death sentence.
The USVI has one of the highest crime rates in the world, per capita more than New York or even Washington D.C.
All major crime in the U.S. Territory is run by the “Commission,” hardcore but well-organized gangsters who are headquartered on St. Croix, the largest of the three islands.
The Commission is responsible for operating a massive international drug trade, which are delivered from across the Caribbean. It’s not unusual to hear planes landing at night without lights.
Virgin Islands criminals are smart, sophisticated and well-armed with handguns, shotguns and machineguns. For the most part, they only prey on other criminals, but this can change in an instant.
The Virgin Islands Police Department offers little resistance to the armed gangs who actually run the territory. The VIPD is severely undermanned, underpaid and undertrained. The department is horribly led.
Many VIPD officers are corrupt. If they’re told to stay away from an area because a shipment is inbound, they do what they’re told, or they can disappear without a trace.
Gun control in the USVI is the worst in the country, and as a result only the bad guys have guns. Civilians have no legal way to protect themselves, their family or their home.
In December 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the VI Government, the VI Police Department and the Police Commissioner, alleging that they “have continued to obstruct and systematically deny law-abiding American citizens this fundamental right by systematically delaying the processing of applications and imposing unconstitutional conditions on the exercise of this constitutional right.”
“The conduct by the USVI, the VIPD, and Defendant Brooks has rendered the constitutional right to keep and bear arms a virtual nullity within the United States Virgin Islands territory,” the lawsuit states.
While this may appear to be a good step forward, many VI residents see little likelihood that the lawsuit will be quick, and even less likelihood that it will force any significant change.
A unique idea
Kosei Ohno owns the Crown Bay Marina, which is located on St. Thomas. The marina has 100 slips, including many that can take mega-yachts of 200-feet or greater, and it’s only five minutes from the airport.
Ohno, who also spends time in Washington State, recently filed suit against the Virgin Islands Police Commissioner and the VI government after they denied his attempt to renew his firearm licenses, which he had for several years.
Legally owning firearms in the USVI is incredibly invasive and expensive. Gun owners must pay a tax of $150 per firearm every three years. If you legally own 10 guns, you’re going to pay $1,500 every three years. You must also allow a VI Police Officer access to your safe, and they photograph the contents. Getting the actual license can take 18 months or even longer.
“The officer comes into your home without a warrant, demands to see your safe, demands you open the safe and then takes pictures,” Ohno told me this week. “Some people have guns, jewelry and gold bars as well as cash, and you wonder how it gets stolen. The whole process creates a vulnerability and a list of people, many of whom have lost guns through burglaries and theft.”
Ohno soon learned he was not alone.
“I found out through a source of mine at the VIPD that they made it their new mission to deny everyone’s permits,” he said.
So far, Ohno said, he has spent more than $70,000 to get his permits back, so he decided to act. He created the Virgin Islands Safe Gun Owners, a private group of more than 250 residents who all believed it was time to get organized. Their mission is to “restore and promote Second Amendment Rights in the Territory while promoting safe gun ownership.”
“There was considerable abuse happening,” Ohno said. “Our members include many retired officer, feds, military and business owners. It’s a pretty diverse and expansive group. We were able to give the feds evidence, which allowed them to get involved in the Second Amendment litigation against the police department. I learned it’s not just me whose rights were violated.”
The group introduced legislation that they say will modernize firearms ownership throughout the territory.
Ohno said his lawsuit, which he filed in federal not territorial court, has “expansive potential.” But getting arrested with a firearm that’s not registered, he said, would be disastrous.
“According to Virgin Islands law, if you’re caught with an unregistered firearm, the mandatory sentence is 10 to life,” he said.
Ohno has just launched a GoFundMe page and is considering other legal options.
Said Ohno: “Bravery is contagious. Fear is just as contagious, but transition is always risky.”
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