Justice Department sues Virgin Islands police over gun permits

The Justice Department filed a complaint against the Virgin Islands Police Department on Tuesday, accusing the territory of delays and conditions in its gun permit process that are so onerous as to violate the Second Amendment.

According to the complaint, numerous applicants say that VIPD is unreasonably delaying their gun perm4it applications and imposing unreasonable conditions, including bolted-in gun safes, before issuing licenses.

Additionally, the complaint states, VIPD continues to enforce a “proper cause” regulation nearly identical to the law that the U.S. Supreme Court had struck down in another case.

“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.”

Adam Sleeper, U.S. Attorney for the District of the U.S. Virgin Islands, said the territory’s firearms licensing laws and practices are “inconsistent with the Second Amendment.”

According to the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Virgin Islands, the police follow a request for a permit by investigating the applicant, including a mandatory inspection of the person’s home.

This is “the very type of requirements the U.S. Supreme Court finds abusive in permitting schemes,” the suit states.

“VIPD does not establish probable cause of a legal violation for these searches,” the complaint states.

If the applicant does not consent to a home inspection, VIPD refuses to process the application, which operates as a de facto denial.

Before the home inspection, and absent any legal authority, VIPD also requires the applicant to install a safe that is permanently bolted to the home’s wall or floor where a licensed firearm is to be stored.

VIPD requires that each applicant have his or her own safe even if they share a home with another applicant (as in the case of married couples). The VIPD takes several months to a year to schedule and complete a home inspection.

Additionally, VIPD interviews “character vouchers” who must provide opinions on whether the applicant is “a fit and proper person to have a firearm.”

Possessing or carrying an unlicensed firearm in the Virgin Islands is an offense carrying a term of “imprisonment of not less than ten years, and/or a fine not less than $10,000 nor more than $15,000.”

In 2022, the Supreme Court struck down a regulation it called a “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.

That case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, is now the established law of the land, including the territory of the Virgin Islands, but according to the complaint, the Virgin Islands maintains and enforces a law nearly identical to the overturned law.

The DOJ says that complaints have “poured in from residents showing unconstitutional delays and requirements.”