GOA Sues U.S. Virgin Islands Over Gun Ban for Nonresident Americans

The federal lawsuit says ordinary American visitors cannot obtain a handgun carry license, cannot rely on an out-of-state permit, and could face at least ten years in prison for unauthorized firearm possession.

A Florida gun owner and two national Second Amendment organizations are suing the U.S. Virgin Islands over a firearm-licensing system that allegedly leaves ordinary American visitors with no legal way to possess or carry a defensive handgun.

Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, and Florida resident Sean Dale Henry filed Henry v. Brooks on July 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Virgin Islands. The lawsuit names Virgin Islands Police Commissioner Mario Brooks and the territorial government as defendants.

At the heart of the case is a simple constitutional question: Can the government force Americans to surrender their right to keep and bear arms merely because they crossed the shoreline into a U.S. territory?

“The Second Amendment doesn’t end at the shoreline,” Luis Valdes, GOA’s Virgin Islands outreach director and national co-chair of Fuerza 2A, said in GOA’s announcement. “Americans don’t lose their constitutional rights simply because they travel to a U.S. territory. The USVI has created a system where law-abiding citizens are categorically denied the ability to exercise a fundamental constitutional right based solely on where they live. That’s not how constitutional rights work in America, and we’re asking the federal courts to put an end to this blatant violation.”

Virgin Islands Gives Visitors No Way to Carry

Virgin Islands law generally requires government permission to possess or carry a firearm. Eligibility is largely limited to people with a “bona fide residence or place of business” in the territory, along with several narrow statutory categories.

The territory does not recognize Henry’s Florida Concealed Weapon License or a carry permit issued by any other state. Open carry is also prohibited.

Although a nonresident may potentially obtain a Virgin Islands hunting license, the complaint says that exception concerns rifles and shotguns. It does not provide an ordinary visitor with a way to obtain a license to carry a handgun for self-defense.

The system creates a nearly complete blockade:

• The Virgin Islands requires a firearm license.
• It recognizes no out-of-state carry permits.
• It generally prevents nonresidents from applying for its handgun license.
• It prohibits open carry.
• It imposes severe criminal penalties for unauthorized possession.

“For the 99.975 percent of Americans who are not residents of the USVI, Second Amendment rights simply do not exist on the islands,” the complaint argues.

That calculation comes from the plaintiffs and uses “nonresident” as shorthand for someone who does not reside, maintain a qualifying business or otherwise fall within one of the territory’s narrow exceptions.

The larger constitutional point remains: An ordinary law-abiding American visitor has no apparent route to obtain permission to possess and carry a defensive handgun.

“Yet for nonresidents of the USVI, the entire territory is exempted from the Second Amendment,” the complaint states.

Territory Repealed Reciprocity After Bruen

The Virgin Islands did not merely fail to update an old law after the Supreme Court recognized the right to carry a handgun publicly for self-defense. According to the complaint, territorial lawmakers moved in the opposite direction.

After the Supreme Court decided New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen in 2022, the Virgin Islands repealed a limited reciprocity law that had provided some recognition for licensed visitors and transient residents.

Rather than opening a lawful path for ordinary nonresidents, the territory eliminated the limited path that previously existed.

The complaint calls that repeal part of the territory’s “Bruen response bill” and accuses lawmakers of having “thumbed [their] nose at the Supreme Court.”

Under Bruen, once the Second Amendment’s text covers a person’s proposed conduct, the government must prove that its restriction is consistent with America’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. The plaintiffs contend that no Founding-era tradition allowed the government to disarm peaceable Americans merely because they came from another state.

Ten-Year Mandatory Minimum for Unauthorized Possession

The potential punishment makes this case especially serious. According to the complaint, 14 V.I.C. §2253 exposes someone who possesses, transports or carries a firearm without authorization to a minimum of ten years in prison and a fine of between $10,000 and $15,000.

The complaint contrasts that punishment with the federal penalty for unlawful machinegun possession, which carries a maximum prison sentence of ten years.

That means a peaceable American gun owner who brings an ordinary defensive handgun into the territory without the required permission could face a punishment at least as severe as the federal maximum for possessing an illegal machinegun.

The government is not simply making visitors leave their firearms locked in a hotel safe. It allegedly denies most visitors any way to bring a handgun into the territory legally—even if the firearm remains inside their temporary residence.

Florida Gun Owner Plans to Visit St. Thomas

Henry holds a valid Florida Concealed Weapon License and a Federal Firearms License. He says he satisfies the Virgin Islands’ other licensing qualifications and would apply immediately if the government accepted applications from nonresidents.

Henry plans to travel to St. Thomas and wants to bring a handgun for self-defense. He says he would transport and declare the firearm in compliance with applicable airline, federal and territorial requirements. His residency, however, prevents him from even entering the licensing process.

Henry attempted to contact the Virgin Islands Police Department despite the apparent statutory barrier. According to the complaint, several calls to published department numbers went unanswered, reached disconnected lines or produced an unavailable message.

“The fact that the USVI police do not answer their phone makes Plaintiff’s need to keep and bear arms for his own self-defense all the more vital,” the complaint states. It later adds: “Of course, constitutional rights do not rise or fall with the proper operation of a government telephone number.”

GOA Builds on New York and California Carry Cases

GOA says Henry v. Brooks continues its campaign against laws that make Americans’ right to carry end at state lines.

The organization previously challenged nonresident carry restrictions in California and New York. In 2025, a federal court ruled in Higbie v. James that New York could not categorically prevent qualified nonresidents from obtaining carry permits.

The Virgin Islands system appears even more restrictive because it combines a residency barrier with no permit reciprocity, no ordinary unlicensed open carry and a license requirement for firearm possession.

GOA is not asking the court to eliminate every licensing requirement through this lawsuit. It is asking the court to require the territory to accept applications from otherwise-qualified nonresidents and stop treating residency as grounds for denying a constitutional right.

Lawsuit Seeks Permanent Injunction

The lawsuit brings a Second Amendment claim under 42 U.S.C. §1983. It asks the court to declare the challenged portions of 23 V.I.C. §§454, 454a and 456, along with 14 V.I.C. §2253, unconstitutional as applied to qualified nonresidents.

The plaintiffs also want a permanent injunction prohibiting territorial officials from refusing to accept or approve handgun-license applications solely because an otherwise-qualified applicant lives outside the Virgin Islands.

The territorial government has not yet answered the complaint, and the court has not ruled on the plaintiffs’ constitutional claims.

But the government will ultimately have to explain why a law-abiding American’s right to keep and bear arms should vanish upon landing in St. Thomas. The Second Amendment protects “the people”–not just residents who remain inside their home state.

The Virgin Islands may lie beyond the mainland, but it is not outside the Bill of Rights.

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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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