Title 23 — Internal Security and Public Order
16 chapters · 458 sections in this title.
23 V.I.C. § 451 Definitions
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(a) As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly requires otherwise—(a) “Ammunition” means any bullet, cartridge, projectile, buckshot, or any load placed or which may be placed in a firearm to be discharged.(b) “Commissioner” means the Police Commissioner of the Virgin Is…
23 V.I.C. § 452 Applicability of chapter
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No person shall have, possess, bear, transport or carry a firearm within the Virgin Islands, or engage in the business of dealer in firearms and/or ammunition or the business of gunsmith, except in compliance with the provisions of this chapter.
23 V.I.C. § 453 Persons who may lawfully carry firearms
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(a) The following persons, in the discharge of their official duties, and in accordance with and subject to the conditions and restrictions imposed by the laws and regulations applicable to their conduct, may lawfully have, possess, bear, transport and carry firearms in the Virgi…
23 V.I.C. § 454 Persons who may be licensed to carry firearms
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(1) A firearm or electronic weapon may be lawfully had, possessed, borne, transported or carried in the Virgin Islands by the following persons, provided a license for such purpose has been issued by the Commissioner in accordance with the provisions of this chapter:(1) An office…
23 V.I.C. § 454a Persons who may be licensed to carry a concealed handgun on a 24-hour basis
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(a) To obtain a license to carry a concealed handgun on 24-hour basis, the applicant must be at least 21 years of age, and in addition to the information required to be submitted with an application for a firearm license under section 455(a), an applicant for 24-hour concealed ha…
23 V.I.C. § 455 Application for license; form, oath; fees
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(a) Every application for a license to have and possess a firearm shall be made under oath and on forms which the Commissioner shall prepare for such purpose. For the purposes of the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter, the applicant shall furnish all information as may…
23 V.I.C. § 456 Qualifications of applicant
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(a) The Commissioner shall not issue a license for firearms under section 454 of this chapter until all the circumstances and facts set forth in the application have been investigated, and the records of the Department and other available records have been examined, and unless su…
23 V.I.C. § 456a Persons ineligible to possess or carry firearms or ammunition
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(a) The following persons are ineligible for a license to possess or carry a firearm or ammunition as provided in this chapter:(1) a person who has been convicted in any court for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;(2) a person who is a fugitive from…
23 V.I.C. § 457 Contents of license
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(a) A license issued pursuant to the provisions of sections 454 and 454a of this chapter must be in duplicate and shall provide for the following:(1) the name, address, description, and signature of the licensee and the reason for giving the license;(2) That the same is not trans…
23 V.I.C. § 458 Grounds for refusing to issue license
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(a) The Commissioner shall not issue a license to have and possess a firearm to any person convicted in or outside the Virgin Islands of any crime of violence; or of any violation of a narcotic or “harmful drug” law; nor to any person who is mentally incompetent, or an alcoholic …
23 V.I.C. § 459 Cancellation or suspension of license
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(a) Whenever, following the issuance of a firearms license hereunder, it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Commissioner(1) that such license was issued based on a false report of facts, or on concealment of facts on the part of the applicant; or(2) that the licensee was not…
23 V.I.C. § 459a Relinquishment of firearm
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A person who has been issued a license to carry a firearm under this chapter shall relinquish that firearm as directed to enter into any federal government or Government of the Virgin Islands facility. A conviction for violation of this subsection subjects a person to the penalti…
23 V.I.C. § 460 Reciprocal recognition of out-of-state licenses
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Any marshal, sheriff, constable, police or other peace officer, of any state or territory of the United States, whose duty it is to serve process and make arrests, may, while travelling through or in the Virgin Islands on official business, carry such weapons or equipment as has …
23 V.I.C. § 461 License to sell firearms and/or ammunition; gunsmiths; report of transactions; private transfer sales to minors or aliens
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(a) No person may engage in the business of dealer in firearms and/or ammunition or as a gunsmith without holding a license therefor issued by the Commissioner of Licensing and Consumer Affairs upon favorable report of the Police Commissioner. (b) Each transaction referring to th…
23 V.I.C. § 462 Application for dealer's or gunsmith's license; form and content; term; fee; renewals
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(a) Any person wishing to obtain a license to engage in the business of dealer in firearms and/or ammunition or the business of gunsmith, or both, shall file with the Commissioner of Licensing and Consumer Affairs a sworn application in the manner provided by the said Commissione…
23 V.I.C. § 463 Qualifications of dealer or gunsmith
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No license to engage in the business of gunsmith or of dealer in firearms and/or ammunition shall be issued to a person not over 21 years of age, and not a resident of the Virgin Islands and a citizen of the United States. When the applicant is a corporation, it shall be organize…
23 V.I.C. § 464 Corporation or partnership application for license
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Where the applicant is a corporation or a partnership, the application shall be signed and sworn to by the president, the secretary and the treasurer of the corporation or by all the managing partners of the partnership; and it shall set forth the name of the corporation or of th…
23 V.I.C. § 465 Conditions for dealers' operations; records of transactions
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(1) Any person, to whom a license has been issued under section 461 of this chapter may engage in the business of gunsmith or of dealer in firearms and/or ammunition under the following conditions.(1) The business shall be operated only on the premises specified in the license.(2…
23 V.I.C. § 466 Sales of weapons and ammunition without licenses prohibited; sales slips
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(a) No dealer in firearms or ammunition shall deliver a firearm to a purchaser without the latter's handing over to him a license to have and possess a firearm, duly issued in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, and unless said license contains an authorization for th…
23 V.I.C. § 467 Selling firearms and ammunition without a license
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Whoever, without being licensed in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, sells, has in his possession with the intent to sell, exposes for sale, or advertises for sale, any firearm or ammunition, or without being so licensed engages in the business of a gunsmith, shall …
23 V.I.C. § 467a Importation of firearms without a license
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Except as provided in section 476 of this chapter, whoever, without being licensed in accordance with this chapter, imports, carries, or brings any firearm or ammunition into the Virgin Islands and fails to report to the Commissioner as required by section 470 of this chapter sha…
23 V.I.C. § 468 Cancellation of license
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(1) Whenever, following the issuance of a license to engage in the business of dealer in firearms and/or ammunition or the business of a gunsmith, it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Licensing and Consumer Affairs:(1) that such license was issued based on a…
23 V.I.C. § 469 Report by carrier, warehouseman or depositary; delivery to consignee
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Every water, air or overland carrier, and every warehouseman or depositary who receives firearms or ammunitions for delivery in the Virgin Islands shall as soon as possible notify such fact and the name and address of the consignee to the Commissioner and shall not deliver said m…
23 V.I.C. § 470 Report of firearms purchased outside or brought into the Virgin Islands; fees; penalty
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(a) Any person upon entering the Virgin Islands and bringing any firearm or ammunition shall declare all firearms and ammunition to the Commissioner or the Commissioner’s designee immediately upon arrival to any port of entry and shall furnish a complete description of all firear…
23 V.I.C. § 470a Port locations designated for registration of firearms and ammunition
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The Virgin Islands Port Authority shall designate a location at each port which shall be under the control of the Commissioner of Police for registration of firearms, ammunition, or firearm components and shall install at each port appropriate signage notifying all persons of the…
23 V.I.C. § 471 Report of loss of firearm
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Every person possessing or having under his control a firearm, and who loses the same or finds that it has disappeared, shall report the same to the Commissioner within 10 days, following his discovery of such loss or disappearance, and in the event of his failing to do so such p…
23 V.I.C. § 472 Appeals
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Any applicant aggrieved by the denial of his application for a license hereunder or any person whose license has been revoked, shall be entitled to judicial review thereof by filing an appeal with the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands within 15 days after the date of the actio…
23 V.I.C. § 473 Firearms Register
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(a) The Commissioner shall establish a Firearms Register within the Department and maintain the same in a systematic and orderly manner, so that the names of the persons licensed as dealers in firearms, gunsmiths or to carry firearms in the Virgin Islands as well as the essential…
23 V.I.C. § 474 Death of licensee
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Upon the death of a person leaving in his estate a firearm it shall be the duty of his administrator, executor or any other person legally authorized to represent the estate to report to the Commissioner the brand, caliber and serial number if any, of the firearm in question. Upo…
23 V.I.C. § 475 Deposit of firearms in Department of Public Safety, disposition
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(a) All firearms surrendered, seized or confiscated under the provisions of this chapter, shall be disposed of as provided in this section. (b) Any firearm unlawfully borne, possessed, transported or carried, is hereby declared a public nuisance and when any such weapon or instru…
23 V.I.C. § 476 Collections of antique firearms; certificates of uselessness
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No provision hereof shall prevent that private collections of antique firearms, which may not be used as weapons, be preserved and maintained and that their owners possess them as ornaments or as matters of curiosity, nor the collections of firearms kept as relics, but for the pr…
23 V.I.C. § 477 Repealed. May 16, 1974, No. 3566, § 5, Sess. L. 1974, p. 101
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23 V.I.C. § 477 Statutes current through Act 9046 of the 2025 session of the 36th Legislature, including all code changes through October 25, 2025 Virgin Islands Code AnnotatedCopyright © 2026 All rights reserved.
23 V.I.C. § 478 Report of treatment of wounded persons
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Any physician, physician aide, or nurse treating a case of bullet wound, powder burn or any other wound arising from or caused by the discharge of a gun, revolver, pistol, or other firearm, and whenever such cases are treated in a hospital, clinic, sanitarium or other similar ins…
23 V.I.C. § 479 Discharging or aiming firearms
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(a) Any person who, otherwise than in self-defense or in the discharge of official duty:(a) wilfully discharges any pistol, revolver, or other firearm, or who throws any deadly missile in a public place or any other place where there is any person who may be injured, thereby, alt…
23 V.I.C. § 480 False information forbidden in sale of weapons
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No person shall, in purchasing a firearm or in applying for any license or in making any report hereunder give or offer false or misleading information or offer false evidence of his identity.
23 V.I.C. § 481 Alteration of identifying marks of weapons prohibited
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(a) No person shall within the Virgin Islands change, alter, remove, or obliterate the name of the maker, model, manufacturer's number, or other mark or identification on any pistol, machine gun, or sawed-off shotgun. Possession of any pistol, machine gun, or sawed-off shotgun up…
23 V.I.C. § 482 Illegal use of license; penalty
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Whoever knowingly allows the use of his license, issued under this chapter or any prior law of the Virgin Islands, by another person for the purpose of obtaining or transporting firearms shall be punished as provided in section 484 of this chapter.
23 V.I.C. § 483 Deposit of fees into Virgin Islands Education Initiative Fund
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All fees collected for licenses under this chapter shall be transmitted to the Commissioner of Finance and deposited by him in the Virgin Islands Education Initiative Fund.
23 V.I.C. § 484 General penalty section
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Any person who violates the provisions of this chapter shall, except when otherwise specifically provided herein, be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than three years forfeiture of the person’s license or firearm or any combination thereof; provided that if the v…
23 V.I.C. § 485 Regulations
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The Commissioner may issue, modify and amend, from time to time, such rules and regulations, not inconsistent with this chapter or the provisions of other law, which he may deem necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes of this chapter, which rules and regulations, upon …
23 V.I.C. § 486 Police power reserved
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Nothing contained in this chapter shall be deemed to limit the exercise of the police power of the Government of the Virgin Islands for the protection of the existence of government, life, the public security, health, morals and the beneficial use of property.
23 V.I.C. § 487 Seizure and forfeiture
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(a) The following items of property shall be subject to seizure and forfeiture, and, upon forfeiture, no property right shall exist in them:1. Any firearm being worn, borne, or transported by any person not authorized pursuant to section 454 of this title, and, therefore, in viol…
23 V.I.C. § 488 Limited search
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(a) Any law enforcement officer who, in the light of his observations, information and experience, has a reasonable belief that (i) a person may be wearing, carrying, or transporting a firearm in violation of section 454 of this title, (ii) by virtue of his possession of a firear…
23 V.I.C. § 489 Registration of firearms upon purchase from dealer; registration of firearms transferred from non-dealer
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(a) At the time that any firearm is purchased from a licensed firearms dealer, the dealer and the purchaser shall complete such registration documents as required by the Commissioner of Police before the firearm may be removed from the premises. The firearms dealer shall forward …
23 V.I.C. § 489a Safe storage of firearms; penalties
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(a) Every person who owns, possesses, purchases, or acquires a firearm, as that word is defined at Section 451(f) of this chapter, shall be responsible for the safe storage of the firearm. (b) Any person who owns, possesses, purchases, or acquires a firearm, as that word is defin…
23 V.I.C. § 490 Serial Number Requirement for Firearms
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(a) This Act shall be known and may be cited as the “Virgin Islands Firearm Serial Number Regulation Act.”(a) All firearms manufactured, sold, transferred, or possessed in the Virgin Islands shall have a unique serial number engraved or stamped on the firearm by the manufacturer.…