By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Asserting that Virgin Islands police have obstructed and denied law-abiding American citizens their right to keep and bear arms by delaying the gun permit process, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a federal lawsuit against the government of the Virgin Islands, the Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD) and Police Commissioner Mario Brooks, in his official capacity.
The 12-page federal complaint was filed in the District Court of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas and St. John Division.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon released a statement noting this was an action by the recently-launched Second Amendment Section of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. She explained the lawsuit was filed “to bring the Virgin Islands Police Department back into legal compliance by ensuring that applicants receive timely decisions without unconstitutional obstruction.”
U.S. Attorney Adam Sleeper, who signed the complaint, added, “The territory’s firearms licensing laws and practices are inconsistent with the Second Amendment. This lawsuit seeks to uphold the rights of law-abiding citizens to bear arms in the U.S. Virgin Islands.”
This is the second such action the DOJ has taken against a law enforcement agency. The first was the lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department earlier in the fall, for essentially the same thing. Such delays in the licensing process, and other requirements demanded by the Virgin Islands police run counter to the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, the DOJ maintains.
As noted in a statement from Sleeper’s office, “In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a regulation it labeled “proper cause,” which New York law enforcement used to deny gun permits if the applicant did not show “proper cause” for the gun permit. That case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, is the established law of the land, including in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Today, the Virgin Islands maintains and enforces a law nearly identical to the overturned law. “Additionally,” the statement continued, “complaints have poured in from residents showing unconstitutional delays and requirements, including police conducting unconstitutional and unreasonable home searches—the very type of requirements the U.S. Supreme Court finds abusive in permitting schemes.”
