A broad gun control bill targeting the sale and possession of most semi-automatic long guns, “large capacity” magazines, and suppressors (as well as imposing a training mandate on all Virgin Islanders who want to purchase a rifle or shotgun) appears to be running into some trouble in the U.S. Virgin Islands legislature.
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The bill has had a couple of hearings, including a recent committee meeting where some pro-2A advocates were not allowed to testify. The latest hearing was supposed to take place on Friday, October 17, and gun owners had been told that some amendments would likely be offered, though there were no details on what changes would be made.
It looks like we’ll have to wait a little longer, because tomorrow’s hearing has been postponed.
Though originally forwarded to the Committee on Rules and Judiciary with a favorable vote, public opposition to the measure has been intense and unyielding. The bill’s sponsor, Senator Clifford Joseph, has promised comprehensive revisions, and the amended version of the bill is expected to be vastly different from the original. However, proponents and opponents will now have to wait even longer to review the changes and comment on the amended bill. Many are expected to request that the bill be tossed out altogether.
Getting Bill 36-0151 heard in the Committee on Rules and Judiciary has twice been unsuccessful thus far. Most recently, a motion to remove it from the October 9th schedule became highly contentious, with lawmakers slinging disparaging comments at each other. Committee chair Senator Carla Joseph, who allegedly failed to remove the bill from the agenda at the request of the bill’s sponsor, was then accused of “unprofessional and disruptive” behavior by Senator Kenneth Gittens. He has since sought a formal review of her actions, based on what he described as an “ongoing pattern of disruptive conduct and misuse of procedural privileges.”
At last Thursday’s meeting, Senator Clifford Joseph promised that stakeholders would be afforded a chance to air their grievances on the bill at the October 17th meeting. It is currently unclear why the bill has now been pushed further down the line, but correspondence from Virgin Islands Safe Gun Owners Association Founder Kosei Ohno dated October 14, indicated the need for at least a two-week notice period to conduct adequate research and receive proper guidance from legal advisors. The email sent to Senator Joseph and other legislators also requested extensive data, including lists of confiscated firearms, statistics on firearm license applications, and information on fees collected from various firearm-related requirements.
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The fact that the bill’s sponsor is apparently rewriting the bill is a sign that gun owners are having an impact, but if Joseph really wants to address their concerns he should be getting input from Ohno and others like Gun Owners of America’s Luis Valdes before rolling out his amended version.
Honestly, though, so long as the legislation still targets commonly owned arms, Second Amendment supporters are still going to take issue with it. As currently written, the bill would not only ban the sale and manufacture of so-called assault weapons, but require existing owners to “surrender the firearm to the Virgin Islands Police Department for destruction; or transfer the firearm off-island through a federally licensed firearms dealer; and surrender any firearm license issued for the firearm to VIPD for immediate revocation” within 90 days of the bill being signed into law. To add insult to injury, no compensation would be provided to gun owners forced to divest themselves of their firearms.
Even if the bill is modified to allow existing owners to maintain possession, that’s not going to satisfy Second Amendment advocates… or comport with the Second Amendment itself. A ban on the sale of commonly owned arms that is meant to prohibit people from lawfully possessing them is just as much a violation of our right to keep and bear arms as telling existing owners to get rid of their lawfully-owned guns. I suspect the only way to satisfy groups like the Virgin Islands Safe Gun Owners Association would be to completely scrap the legislation, and it doesn’t sound like Joseph is ready or willing to take that step.
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