BELLEVUE, Wash. — June 10, 2026 — The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) today submitted formal testimony to the 36th Legislature of the United States Virgin Islands opposing Bill No. 36-0144, which would adopt expansive gun control laws in the territory.
SAF advises the Virgin Islands legislature to adopt a wait-and-see approach given that multiple pending cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals will directly impact the constitutionality of many of the bill’s provisions.
In a letter to Senate President Milton E. Potter, SAF highlighted that the amendment contains numerous Second Amendment violations – including restrictions on carry in places where such limits are impermissible, bans on common arms in violation of Heller, and exorbitant fees that effectively tax the exercise of a constitutional right – but emphasized a practical reason for delay.
“Many of the very laws that the bill would enact are already awaiting court rulings that would be binding on the Virgin Islands,” SAF wrote in the letter. “There is no reason for taxpayers to incur the expense of potential lawsuits, especially at a time when the Virgin Islands are already under federal scrutiny for related issues. These questions are all about to be answered in other cases.”
The letter specifically notes that the amendment’s “vampire rule” restricting carry on private property open to the public without affirmative permission is set to be decided by the Supreme Court as soon as this week in Wolford v. Lopez. It also flags en banc Third Circuit cases addressing “assault weapon” and magazine bans and sensitive-places restrictions (including SAF’s case Koons v. Attorney General of New Jersey) – all of which involve issues directly implicated by the Virgin Islands legislation.
SAF offered to provide detailed substantive arguments on each constitutional defect if senators are interested but stressed that the pending litigation alone warrants pausing the bill rather than rushing it into law only to face likely invalidation while saddling taxpayers with unnecessary legal bills.
