# Gun and ammunition confiscation authorized in Virgin Islands ahead of Irma



## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

I didn't believe it until I read it for myself.

The Governor of the Virgin Islands has issued an order that grants the National Guard authority "to seize arms, ammunition, explosives, incendiary material and any other property that may be required by the military forces..." to help... um... fight a hurricane???

What the hell???
What kind of brash overstep is this?
This man should be found, hogtied, and lashed to a streetlight on the coast, and made to wait out this storm.

Daily Caller has the story: Virgin Islands Grabbing Guns Ahead Of Irma | The Daily Caller
And a link to the actual order: http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/NATL-GUARD.pdf


----------



## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Kauboy said:


> I didn't believe it until I read it for myself.
> 
> The Governor of the Virgin Islands has issued an order that grants the National Guard authority "to seize arms, ammunition, explosives, incendiary material and any other property that may be required by the military forces..." to help... um... fight a hurricane???
> 
> ...


I'm not a Constitutional scholar by any stretch of the imagination, but would this not violate the 2nd Amendment?


----------



## Old SF Guy (Dec 15, 2013)

Wow, If this is not case for a Violation of 2nd and 5th Amendment then nothing is....AS A U.S. Territory....

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, *nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;* nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

*Due Process of Law*

A fundamental, constitutional guarantee that all legal proceedings will be fair and that one will be given notice of the proceedings and an o*pportunity to be heard before the government acts to take away one's life, liberty, or property. Also, a constitutional guarantee that a law shall not be unreasonable, Arbitrary, or capricious.
*
The constitutional guarantee of due process of law, found in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, prohibits all levels of government from arbitrarily or unfairly depriving individuals of their basic constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property. The due process clause of the Fifth Amendment, ratified in 1791, asserts that no person shall "be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." This amendment restricts the powers of the federal government and applies only to actions by it. *The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, declares,"[N]or shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law" (§ 1). This clause limits the powers of the states, rather than those of the federal government.

The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment has also been interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court in the twentieth century to incorporate protections of the Bill of Rights, so that those protections apply to the states as well as to the federal government. Thus, the Due Process Clause serves as the means whereby the Bill of Rights has become binding on state governments as well as on the federal government.*


----------



## Ragnarök (Aug 4, 2014)

Since the U.S Virgin Islands are only territories does that mean there are loopholes that allow this? I'm under the impression all the rights enjoyed by states are enjoyed by territories except the right to vote.


----------



## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

First Australia, now the Virgin Islands, baby steps. How long and what will it take before it's in country??


----------



## Stockton (Jun 21, 2017)

When I first read it I thought the word seize was mistaken.
I thought perhaps they meant obtain. Obtain as it get their
weapons from their armory, bases, etc? Nothing suggested
take from citizens. Sadly nothing doesn't say take from
citizens. That's poorly written.


----------



## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

Chipper said:


> First Australia, now the Virgin Islands, baby steps. How long and what will it take before it's in country??


You forgot England and Kanukisthan (partially).


----------



## Gator Monroe (Jul 29, 2017)

Is the Governor a Democrat ?


----------



## C.L.Ripley (Jul 6, 2014)

The United States Virgin Islands has not yet adopted a constitution. A fifth attempt to adopt a constitution occurred in 2007. Previous attempts took place in 1964, 1971, 1977 and 1980.

Currently, the U.S. Territory is governed by the "Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands," a federal law approved by Congress in 1954.

https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Virgin_Islands_Constitution


----------



## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Great. Make life safe for all looters in the aftermath.


----------



## mcangus (Jun 3, 2014)

Ragnarök said:


> Since the U.S Virgin Islands are only territories does that mean there are loopholes that allow this? I'm under the impression all the rights enjoyed by states are enjoyed by territories except the right to vote.


I was thinking the same thing but remembered what happened in Louisiana during Katrina. So if a state can get away with it, I imagine it is equally as possible, if not easier, for a territory to pull it off. I don't know anything about the territory, but I imagine there just isn't enough pro 2nd amendment folks there to make any resistance possible.


----------



## RedLion (Sep 23, 2015)

MN passed a law a couple of years ago making it extra illegal (the U.S. Constitution and new state law) for the Governor to order the confiscation of firearms from citizens in the event of an emergency.


----------



## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

Ragnarök said:


> Since the U.S Virgin Islands are only territories does that mean there are loopholes that allow this? I'm under the impression all the rights enjoyed by states are enjoyed by territories except the right to vote.


Either their has to be, or this guy is playing Abe Lincoln or Woodrow Wilson with the constitution, tearing it up and pissing on it.


----------



## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

I saw this recently, it's Texas not VI but interesting nonetheless:

Can police take Texas citizens' guns during a state of emergency? - WUSA TV 9


----------



## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

Hawaii gunowners can see THEIR future - they have almost the same situation when the next tropical storm comes their way - that liberal DNC Governor would take advantage of the situation ...


----------



## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

Let's see how this develops and then see who is the bigger idiot, the governor or the VI citizens?


----------



## stevekozak (Oct 4, 2015)

Salt-N-Pepper said:


> I saw this recently, it's Texas not VI but interesting nonetheless:
> 
> Can police take Texas citizens' guns during a state of emergency? - WUSA TV 9


I think the answer there is: They can try.......


----------



## RJAMES (Dec 23, 2016)

I spent several minutes trying to verify the story I see it on a lot of gun rights sites and right wing "news" web sites. Nothing from the guard or any news organization - local TV, radio or newspaper. 

Until it is verified I think it is a false story .


----------



## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

RJAMES said:


> I spent several minutes trying to verify the story I see it on a lot of gun rights sites and right wing "news" web sites. Nothing from the guard or any news organization - local TV, radio or newspaper.
> 
> Until it is verified I think it is a false story .


Clarify.
You think *what* is a false story?

The actual document issuing the order is linked to in the original post.
What part of that official order makes you think this is false?


----------



## RedLion (Sep 23, 2015)

This must be fake as well.....Daily Caller is a very credible source, regardless of it being right of center.

http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/NATL-GUARD.pdf


----------



## Old SF Guy (Dec 15, 2013)

Well, its gonna be hard to rightly call itelf the Virgin Islands after the screwing they bout ta git.... Need ta now be AKA Hoe-town....


----------



## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ.


----------



## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

Illini Warrior said:


> Hawaii gunowners can see THEIR future - they have almost the same situation when the next tropical storm comes their way - that liberal DNC Governor would take advantage of the situation ...


I own land in Hawai'i and once planned on retiring on my land. Just can't do it, the government is just too whacked.

Additionally, I'm a white guy and if the SHTF and Hawai'i is cut off, it's going to be a very bad place to be a non-Polynesian. The bruddas will take their islands back from the haole in not time flat.


----------



## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

Salt-N-Pepper said:


> I own land in Hawai'i and once planned on retiring on my land. Just can't do it, the government is just too whacked.
> 
> Additionally, I'm a white guy and if the SHTF and Hawai'i is cut off, it's going to be a very bad place to be a non-Polynesian. The bruddas will take their islands back from the haole in not time flat.



know that tooooo - just didn't want to open up that whole racist deal that natives have against the mainlanders - they are going shark hunting with a few of those unfortunate left behind tourists .....


----------



## Medic33 (Mar 29, 2015)

I don't think Hawaii is the same as the Virgin Islands -one is a state of the USA the other is a territory huge difference there huge. Also not all the Virgin Islands are us territories some are British.


----------



## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

RedLion said:


> This must be fake as well.....Daily Caller is a very credible source, regardless of it being right of center.
> 
> http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/NATL-GUARD.pdf


If by "right of center" you mean their needle is glued to the right edge of the gauge, then they are "right of center"


----------



## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

Illini Warrior said:


> [/COLOR]
> 
> know that tooooo - just didn't want to open up that whole racist deal that natives have against the mainlanders - they are going shark hunting with a few of those unfortunate left behind tourists .....


The natives like outsiders just fine as long as they stick to the tourist areas, and leave their money. On the big island, where I lived, there are places outsiders just don't go. You won't get beaten up or shot, but you will certainly be unwelcome... and if the SHTF, you will just 'vanish' if you are there.

This is NOT a racial thing even, it's a tribal thing... there are whites and Asians in the tribe, and they will be just fine... it's people who were not born and raised on the islands that will be fish bait.


----------



## RedLion (Sep 23, 2015)

Salt-N-Pepper said:


> If by "right of center" you mean their needle is glued to the right edge of the gauge, then they are "right of center"


Maybe it is best that you stick to Politico for your info.....


----------



## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

I just heard a quote by the governor of the USVI on the radio. He said that confiscation was a mis-interpretation of the order. He said: "I have roofs blown off houses, I have a fire station collapsed, I'm not worrying about your firearms."

Well, that's good to hear.


----------



## RJAMES (Dec 23, 2016)

I was just checking to see if there had been any confiscation reported yet. Nothing so far but then it looks like they got tore up pretty bad without much media operating.


----------



## White Shadow (Jun 26, 2017)

I wonder if they got hit as hard as Barbuda. I haven't seen the exact track of the storm, but NPR radio today was talking to some officials from Barbuda's neighbor island and they estimated 95% of all structures on the island are damaged and the airport and seaport are both currently out of commission. Supplies are being ferried over from Antigua by boat and helicopter.


----------



## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

It was a test to see what reaction it would get. 
The Governor of the Virgin Islands now saying he did not say that. Well he sure did. No doubt about that.
After LA. States and federal governments addressed this issue and made it clear, no you can not just take people guns. For course we must remember we have a number of people in this country some are judges that feel if they don't like a law or regulation they can ignore it.


----------

