Gun Owners of America Files Lawsuit Against Virgin Islands' Firearm Restrictions for Nonresident U.S. Citizens

Other plaintiffs with GOA include the Gun Owners Foundation and Sean Dale Henry.

“This case involves a challenge to the United States Virgin Islands’ (‘USVI’) wholesale refusal to allow Americans to exercise their enumerated constitutional right to ‘keep and bear Arms’ unless they have a ‘bona fide residence or place of business’ in the USVI,” according to the complaint.

In the complaint, GOA noted:

First, the USVI generally bans the bearing of arms for nonresidents as a general matter, even if licensed to carry by another jurisdiction….Shortly after Bruen recognized a broad, textual and historical right to public carry, the USVI repealed its then-existing statute that had granted limited concealed carry reciprocity to the firearm license holders of other states….Thus, as of 2022, the USVI does not recognize the firearm licenses issued by any state or territory. And, because the USVI also prohibits the “open carry” of firearms…there is no way for nonresidents to “bear arms” in public based on reciprocity.

Nor does USVI law allow nonresidents to apply for a USVI license to carry. USVI law enumerates five categories of “[p]ersons who may be licensed to carry firearms.” …Those include employees of the government and certain businesses, individuals “having a bona fide residence or place of business within the Virgin Islands,” and, “[w]ith respect to a rifle or a shotgun,” individuals “possessing a valid and current Virgin Islands hunting license.

Therefore, GOA observed, “…although nonresidents ostensibly may obtain a USVI hunting license, such license only applies to long guns and does not authorize the public carry of handguns, the ‘most popular weapon chosen by Americans for self-defense’ and whose ‘complete prohibition … is invalid.’ ( Heller ).”