DOJ Strikes Again: Virgin Islands Police Sued over Gun Permit Delays

The Department of Justice has slammed another police agency for dragging its feet on issuing gun permits, this time in the Virgin Islands, declaring in a 12-page federal complaint, “Despite the Supreme Court’s unequivocal and repeated endorsement of an individual right to keep and bear arms…the VI Defendants have continued to obstruct and systematically deny law-abiding American citizens this fundamental right by systematically delaying the processing of applications and imposing unconstitutional conditions on the exercise of this constitutional right.”

Named as defendants in the action are the government of the Virgin Islands, the Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD) and Police Commissioner Mario Brooks, in his official capacity.

In a prepared statement announcing the lawsuit, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said, “This Civil Rights Division will protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. The newly-established Second Amendment Section filed this lawsuit to bring the Virgin Islands Police Department back into legal compliance by ensuring that applicants receive timely decisions without unconstitutional obstruction.”

Earlier, the DOJ sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for essentially the same thing: deliberately delaying the issuance of carry licenses, sometimes for more than a year. This new action suggests the new 2A Section will be focusing attention on the permit processes, although gun rights organizations, such as the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, have recommended the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division take on some bigger issues, such as state laws which do, or will, require permits-to-purchase before law-abiding citizens can exercise their right to buy and own a firearm.

“Nowhere in this country should a citizen be forced to get permission from a government entity in order to exercise a fundamental right protected by the U.S. Constitution and delineated in nearly all state constitutions,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Nobody needs government permission to exercise a right.”

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Adam Sleeper, who filed the federal complaint in U.S. District Court of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas and St. John Division, asserted, “The territory’s firearms licensing laws and practices are inconsistent with the Second Amendment. This lawsuit seeks to uphold the rights of law-abiding citizens to bear arms in the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

The action presents a considerable contrast with how the previous administration viewed the Second Amendment, and it definitely counters remarks by anti-gun New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who tried to exploit the mass shooting in Australia on Sunday and the incident at Brown University on Saturday to push for more restrictions here in the U.S.

🚨BREAKING: Chuck Schumer is calling on the U.S. to adopt stricter gun laws, following Australia’s example, after the recent attacks.

“If Australia can find courage to act. Congress should certainly find the will to act!”

This guy is insane.
pic.twitter.com/z42btwKNFZ

— Jack (@jackunheard) December 15, 2025

The federal complaint against the Virgin Island, also signed by Dhillon, noted, “VIPD and Defendant Brooks continue to enforce Virgin Islands laws nearly identical to those struck down by the Supreme Court in Bruen. VI Defendants require that applicants submit to intrusive and warrantless home searches as a condition of obtaining a gun permit. They demand that applicants unnecessarily spend money to install a safe and further require the safe to be bolted either to the floor or wall of applicant’s home as a condition of granting a permit, even though in Heller, the Supreme Court held that a similar requirement is unconstitutional.”

As detailed in the lawsuit, the application process includes a mandatory inspection of the applicant’s home, although the police department “does not establish probable cause of a legal violation for these searches.”

“If the applicant does not consent to a home inspection, VIPD refuses to process the application, which operates as a de facto denial,” the lawsuit alleges.

“Prior to the home inspection, and absent any legal authority, VIPD requires the applicant to install a safe that is permanently bolted to the home’s wall or floor where a licensed firearm is to be stored,” the complaint adds.

In addition, the police department interviews “character vouchers” who must say the applicant is “a fit and proper person to have a firearm.” This essentially conditions a person’s right to exercise his/her Second Amendment rights on the recommendation of others.

Ultimately, the lawsuit alleges, “The systematic practice by all three VI Defendants of requiring applicants to consent to unreasonable warrantless searches of their homes and to spend money to purchase and install safes has deprived, and continues to deprive, law-abiding citizens who applied for a new license to possess or carry a firearm of their Second Amendment rights…”

In announcing the lawsuit, DOJ noted, “Complaints have poured in from residents showing unconstitutional delays and requirements, including police conducting unconstitutionally unreasonable home searches — the very type of requirements the U.S. Supreme Court finds abusive in permitting schemes.”

While this may be less sensational than cracking down on a state statute mandating a permit-to-purchase scheme or laws prohibiting concealed carry in so-called “sensitive places,” it’s a start. The case of Wolford v. Lopez, now before the Supreme Court, might take care of that problem. Oral arguments are scheduled for Jan. 20, 2026.

About Dave Workman

Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.