Posted on 05/22/2013 3:18:12 PM PDT by marktwain
Guns are Tightly Controlled, but The U.S. Virgin Islands has one of the Highest Homicide Rates in the World
Not counted as a state or a city, the U.S. Virgin Islands is often missed in statistics about gun control in the United States.
Gun ownership is tightly regulated, with permission to own a gun only granted by the Police Commissioner upon application, and subject to the Commissioner's discretion. Even antique firearms, which are not regulated under U.S. Federal law, are not allowed unless they are inspected and "rendered useless".
476. Collections of antique firearms; certificates of uselessness.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 preservation of any weapon of those included in this section the prior inspection thereof and approval therefor by the Commissioner shall be necessary and he shall render such firearms unless, so that the same may not be used as such. The Commissioner shall issue a certificate of uselessness of all the weapons possessed under the provisions of this section, and the possession of any firearm not included in said certificate shall be subject to all the provisions hereof. ****
In spite of, or perhaps because of, the extremely restrictive firearms laws in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the homicide rate may have been the highest in the United States in 2010, exceeding that of New Orleans or Washington, D.C., Cites that often vie for the dubious distinction.
In 2010, Washington,D.C. had a murder rate of about 38 per 100,000. New Orleans had a a murder rate of 58 per 100,000.
The U.S. Virgin Islands, with a population of only 110,000, had a murder rate of 60 per 100,000.
The murder rate dropped in 2011, and rose again in 2012, averaging 45 per 100,000 for the three years. This is still one of the highest murder rates in the world.
Because the U.S. Virgin Islands are not a state, and not a city, most statistical crime analysis miss it completely.
Murder rates are primarily related to culture, not to the instruments used or to gun laws.
Link to Text of Virgin Islands weapons law, 1994
Link to article with New Orleans homicide rate
Link to article showing Washington, D.C. Homicide rates
Link to article showing U.S. Virgin Islands Homicide rate in 2010
Link to article showing Virgin Islands Homicide rates for 2010,2011,2012
Link to article comparing U.S to European Murder rates
©2013 by Dean Weingarten Permission to share granted as long as this notice is included.
Guns are Tightly Controlled, but The U.S. Virgin Islands has one of the Highest Homicide Rates in the World...
Sorry to hear that, always loved to visit there. A beautiful place and found the locals nicer than some other islands in the Caribbean. But that was a few years back.
What do DC, Virgin Islands and Noo Orlens have in common? I can’t quite put my finger on it...
VI racial statistics for 2010: 13.5% White; 73% Black.
Hotbeds of restless Amish youth, and santuaries for Christian radicals..
In the Middle Ages, Europeans had murder rates as high as African Americans do today.
It is culture, not race, that links to murder rates.
i used to live on ST.Croix but finally sold my place in 2006, it's simply toooooo dangerous, specially for a white boy...
they are all inbred to some extent because they live on an island... and every crook and crackhead is related to somebody on the PD or the justice department in some way so the cops never show up till the criminals are looooong gone so they don;t have to arrest their father, mother, brother, sister, kid, cousin, uncle, grandparents, well you get the point... now add to that at least half of them are prolly on some form of welfare/don't work, very few jobs and scum from all the other islands that can sneak into the USVI and it's a real toxic mix, but i wouldn't call it culture, more like anarchy
What are the weapons most used in capital crimes in the Virgin Islands?
You could consider it the "default mode" of tribalism when there is no assurance of the rule of law. The rates are quite similar to what you see in DC, New Orleans, the inner city of Chicago, wherever gangs (the modern version of tribes) rule and there is no expectation of the rule of law.
“What are the weapons most used in capital crimes in the Virgin Islands?”
I have not been able to determine that. I would think that guns would be high on the list, but I do not have the numbers.
100%
I know! I know! They have a high population of Amish. That must be it.
And they wouldn't have those high homicide rates if it weren't for President Bush.
Is there a pro-gun organization in the VI? It seems that a federal court challenge to their gun prohibition could be a slam dunk. From the District Court of the Virgin Islands, it would appeal directly to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey), and then possibly to the SCOTUS.
My guess is there’s a Chicago connection...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.