It’s easy to think that the Second Amendment is being applied most everywhere in the U.S., even with notable hostility in blue states like New York, California, and Illinois.
But that’s just not the case.
Many Americans are being utterly deprived of their 2A rights, often through administrative means, in places that you may not have even considered it to be an issue.
Such as the U.S. Virgin Islands.
It’s true. Even though those islands are U.S. territories and are under U.S. law, gun control has been an issue there.
That may be about to change, though. Kimberly Hayak writes,
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a lawsuit against the Virgin Islands Police Department, alleging that unnecessary delays and requirements on gun permit applications infringe on Second Amendment rights.
The complaint, filed Dec. 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Virgin Islands, accuses the territory’s police department of implementing unconstitutional measures against law-abiding citizens who have applied for firearms licenses. Applicants have cited lengthy wait times and additional requirements, such as mandatory bolted-in gun safes and home searches.
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division filed the lawsuit through its recently established Second Amendment Section.
This lawsuit is, I’m sure, long overdue (I’ll admit to only becoming aware of the problem with the filing of this lawsuit), and I love that the DOJ is treating it as a civil rights issue.
Because that’s exactly what it is: a civil rights issue.
To deny a person their right to keep and bear arms is to potentially deprive them of life, liberty, and property because, in many cases, it is the owning of a firearm that allows them to protect themselves.
Especially for people who are physically weaker, no firearm effectively can mean no ability to protect oneself.
And depriving someone of that ability is evil.
This case should fly through the courts and force the U.S. Virgin Islands to stop depriving citizens of their rights. Period.
It’s the right thing to do.
