Senate Bill Sparks Showdown Over Guns, Rights, and Public Safety
Gunfire in the Virgin Islands, officials say, is now too often the rapid staccato of military-style rifles — weapons capable of emptying dozens of rounds in seconds and increasingly built from parts sent through the mail. Bill No. 36-0144 is meant to confront that firepower, but after clearing committee last week, it now heads to Rules amid fierce debate over safety, rights, and how far the territory should go in limiting guns on its streets.
2025-09-08 12:58:12 - VI News Staff
Sponsored by Sen. Clifford Joseph, the bill proposes a broad set of restrictions on what it defines as “assault weapons,” a category that includes both specific models like the AR-15 and AK-47, and any semiautomatic firearm outfitted with features such as a pistol grip, folding stock, detachable magazine, or threaded barrel. If enacted, it would regulate the importation, sale, transfer, and new possession of these weapons, while allowing those who already legally own them to keep them under strict conditions.
Those conditions, however, are substantial: current owners would be required to register their firearms within 90 days, pay a $1,000 per-weapon registration fee, and store them securely. The law would prohibit carrying them in public, limiting use to the owner’s home or property, or to transport while unloaded and locked to a licensed shooting range. Suppressors and rapid-fire devices, along with magazines holding more than 10 rounds, would be prohibited outright, with the exception of law enforcement and military personnel.
The urgency of the measure came into sharper focus during the Sept. 4th Homeland Security, Justice, and Public Safety Committee hearing when Sen. Novelle Francis, himself a former police commissioner, pressed VIPD’s current Assistant Commissioner Sean Santos on what kind of firearms officers are encountering most on the streets. Santos identified carbine rifles — including AK-47 style weapons — as the weapons of choice, confirming what Francis described as an escalating threat.