DOJ Moves to Block Virgin Islands ‘Assault Weapon’ and Magazine Ban After Cheeseman

The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to block the U.S. Virgin Islands from enforcing its new restrictions on standard-capacity magazines and the transfer of commonly owned firearms, arguing that the Third Circuit’s recent Cheeseman decision has already exposed those provisions as unconstitutional.

The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to block core provisions of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ newly enacted “assault weapon” and magazine ban, arguing that the Third Circuit’s landmark Cheeseman ruling has already settled the constitutional question.

In a July 22 motion, DOJ attorneys targeted two provisions of Act 9113: the territory’s ban on magazines holding more than 15 rounds and its prohibition on selling or transferring firearms “manufactured to hold” more than 15 rounds.

The filing came just five days after the en banc Third Circuit struck down New Jersey’s bans on semi-automatic rifles and magazines holding more than ten rounds in Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs v. Attorney General New Jersey, formerly known as the Cheeseman case.

Because the U.S. Virgin Islands falls within the Third Circuit, the DOJ argues that territorial officials cannot enforce essentially the same unconstitutional restrictions under a different numerical cutoff.

“Nothing more need be said,” DOJ attorneys wrote. “ANJRPC squarely holds that this is unconstitutional.”

Act 9113 Targets AR-15s and Standard Magazines

Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. signed Act 9113 on June 24. The legislation’s stated purpose includes defining and prohibiting so-called “assault rifles” and banning what lawmakers call “large-capacity magazines.”

The law prohibits the possession, receipt, purchase, sale, importation, or transfer of magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds. It also prevents owners from selling or transferring firearms manufactured to accept more than 15 rounds.

That second provision reaches directly into the market for AR-15s and similar semi-automatic rifles. As the DOJ points out, these rifles commonly leave the factory with 20- or 30-round magazines.

“Accordingly, the USVI bans standard-capacity AR-15 rifles,” the motion states.

The territory may not be confiscating every previously owned AR-15 on its effective date, but blocking future sales and transfers remains a ban. It prevents new gun owners from acquiring affected rifles and traps existing owners with property they cannot freely sell or transfer.

That is how politicians attempt to eliminate commonly owned firearms over time: grandfather yesterday’s owners while closing the market to the next generation.

Existing Rifles Grandfathered, Magazines Criminalized

The distinction between Act 9113’s treatment of firearms and magazines makes the law particularly punitive.

According to the DOJ, the act grandfathers firearms owned when the law was passed. It does not extend the same protection to magazines holding more than 15 rounds.

That leaves a Virgin Islands gun owner who already possesses a standard 20- or 30-round magazine with what the government calls a “Hobsons’ choice”: destroy a constitutionally protected arm or keep it and risk arrest and incarceration.

This is not a speculative threat. The filing points to June 12 testimony from Virgin Islands Assistant Police Commissioner Sean Santos Sr., who reportedly told lawmakers that VIPD “wholeheartedly agrees” with Act 9113 and intends to use its provisions as enforcement guidelines.

When the police agency responsible for enforcing a criminal prohibition says it intends to enforce it, gun owners should not have to risk prison before a court recognizes their injury.

Third Circuit Already Rejected the Numbers Game

The Virgin Islands selected 15 rounds as its limit, while New Jersey chose ten. Neither number has a constitutional foundation.

In the Third Circuit’s en banc Cheeseman decision, the court held that semi-automatic rifles are protected “Arms” under the plain text of the Second Amendment. It also recognized that magazines are protected because they are necessary components of modern firearms.

The court rejected the idea that legislators can define constitutional protection by arbitrarily selecting a magazine capacity.

A ten-round magazine does not enjoy constitutional protection while an otherwise identical 11-round magazine falls outside the Second Amendment. Likewise, the Virgin Islands cannot make a 15-round magazine lawful while transforming a common 20- or 30-round magazine into contraband.

The Cheeseman record established that Americans possess more than 100 million 30-round AR-15 magazines. That is common use by any honest measure.

Under Heller, the government cannot ban arms commonly possessed by law-abiding citizens. To fall outside the Second Amendment’s protection, an arm must be both dangerous and unusual. Standard AR-15 rifles and 30-round magazines may be politically unpopular with gun-control activists, but they are plainly not unusual.

The Right to Keep Arms Includes the Right to Acquire Them

The DOJ also attacks Act 9113’s restriction on selling and transferring firearms manufactured to accept magazines holding more than 15 rounds.

Quoting the Tenth Circuit’s decision in Ortega v. Grisham, the government argues:

“Common sense dictates that the right to bear arms requires a right to acquire arms.”

That principle follows from the original understanding of the Second Amendment. The government cannot claim to respect the right to keep and bear arms while banning the transactions through which ordinary citizens acquire them.

The First Amendment would mean little if officials could prohibit citizens from obtaining printing presses or religious texts. The Second Amendment is no different. A right to possess an arm necessarily includes the ability to acquire that arm.

Act 9113 attempts to accomplish indirectly what the Constitution prohibits the territory from doing directly. By blocking future sales and transfers, the law seeks to gradually remove standard-configuration AR-15s from lawful civilian circulation.

DOJ Seeks Relief in Its Existing Virgin Islands Case

The July 22 filing is a second motion for a preliminary injunction in United States v. Government of the Virgin Islands. It is not a separate lawsuit or an amended complaint.

The Justice Department filed the original case in December 2025 against the territorial government, the Virgin Islands Police Department, and Police Commissioner Mario Brooks. That complaint challenged alleged abuses in the territory’s firearm-licensing system, including warrantless home inspections, mandatory bolted safes, excessive delays, and a discretionary “proper reason” carry requirement.

As AmmoLand reported when DOJ filed the case, the government accused territorial officials of reducing the right to keep and bear arms to a “virtual nullity.”

DOJ now argues that VIPD’s intended enforcement of Act 9113 is “only the latest chapter” in a years-long pattern or practice of Second Amendment violations.

The government relies on 34 U.S.C. §12601, which authorizes the Justice Department to seek equitable relief against a pattern or practice of law-enforcement conduct that deprives people of federally protected rights. According to the filing, an enacted law represents official government policy, and VIPD’s enforcement of that policy falls within the statute.

DOJ Asks the Court to Protect Magazines Holding Up to 30 Rounds

The Justice Department is asking the court to prohibit the Virgin Islands from:

• Enforcing any ban on possessing, receiving, purchasing, selling, importing, or transferring magazines holding 30 rounds or fewer.
• Enforcing any ban on selling or transferring a firearm merely because it was manufactured to hold more than 15 rounds.

The motion does not explain why the requested protection ends at 30 rounds. The most likely reason is that the Third Circuit specifically cited evidence establishing that 30-round AR-15 magazines are overwhelmingly common. That limited request should not be mistaken for a concession that magazines holding more than 30 rounds fall outside the Constitution. It reflects the factual record the Third Circuit already accepted and gives the district court a straightforward basis for immediate relief.

The DOJ says other provisions of Act 9113 are also unconstitutional and will be addressed “in due course.” It has asked the court to hear its latest motion during the oral arguments already scheduled for August 19.

The judge has not yet ruled. But Act 9113 presents the same basic constitutional defects the Third Circuit identified in New Jersey: it targets commonly owned rifles, criminalizes standard magazines, and uses legislative labels to make ordinary arms sound unusual.

The Virgin Islands cannot evade Cheeseman by replacing New Jersey’s ten-round limit with a 15-round limit. The Second Amendment protects arms in common use, not merely the reduced-capacity substitutes politicians are willing to allow.

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About Duncan Johnson:

Duncan Johnson is a lifelong firearms enthusiast and unwavering defender of the Second Amendment—where “shall not be infringed” means exactly what it says. A graduate of George Mason University, he enjoys competing in local USPSA and multi-gun competitions whenever he’s not covering the latest in gun rights and firearm policy. Duncan is a regular contributor to AmmoLand News and serves as part of the editorial team responsible for AmmoLand’s daily gun-rights reporting and industry coverage.

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