The Justice Department has filed a complaint against the United States Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD) alleging that the territory’s unreasonable delays and conditions on lawful gun owners’ rights create an unconstitutional permitting process in violation of the Second Amendment.
It said numerous applicants complained that VIPD is unreasonably delaying their gun permit application decisions and added unreasonable conditions, including bolted-in gun safes, prior to issuing gun licenses.
The Justice Department said that the VIPD continues to enforce a proper cause regulation nearly identical to the law that the U.S. Supreme Court previously struck down in another case years ago.
‘This Civil Rights Division will protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens,’ said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
‘The newly-established Second Amendment Section filed this lawsuit to bring the Virgin Islands Police Department back into legal compliance by ensuring that applicants receive timely decisions without unconstitutional obstruction.’
The US attorney for the District of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Adam Sleeper, said 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,’ he added.
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 provide ‘proper cause’ reasons for the gun permit.
US authorirites say that the case is the established law of the land, including the territory of the Virgin Islands and the Virgin Islands currently maintains and enforces a law nearly identical to the overturned law.
Additionally, complaints have poured in from residents showing unconstitutional delays and requirements, including police conducting unconstitutionally unreasonable home searches.