DOJ Moves to Block Virgin Islands Gun Ban — What FFLs Need to Know

On July 22, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion asking a federal judge to block core provisions of the U.S. Virgin Islands' newly enacted "assault weapon" and magazine ban. The filing argues that Act 9113 directly conflicts with the Third Circuit's landmark en banc decision in Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs v. Attorney General New Jersey (the Cheeseman case), which struck down similar bans in New Jersey just five days earlier.

For FFL dealers and gun owners, this is more than a territorial dispute. It's the latest chapter in a rapidly unfolding legal landscape where federal courts are systematically dismantling state and local bans on commonly owned firearms — and the DOJ is now actively joining the fight on the side of the Second Amendment.

What Act 9113 Does

Virgin Islands Governor Albert Bryan Jr. signed Act 9113 into law on June 24, 2026. The legislation has two main provisions that directly affect FFLs and gun owners in the territory:

• Magazine ban: Prohibits the possession, receipt, purchase, sale, importation, or transfer of magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds.
• Firearm transfer restriction: Prohibits the sale or transfer of any firearm manufactured to accept magazines holding more than 15 rounds.

The second provision is especially significant. As the DOJ points out in its motion, the AR-15 platform — America's most popular rifle — commonly leaves the factory with 20- or 30-round magazines. By blocking the sale of firearms "manufactured to hold" more than 15 rounds, the territory effectively bans the transfer of standard-configuration AR-15s.

"Accordingly, the USVI bans standard-capacity AR-15 rifles," the DOJ motion states bluntly.

The Grandfather Trap: Guns In, Magazines Out

Act 9113 employs a particularly cynical strategy. Firearms owned before the law's effective date are grandfathered. Magazines holding more than 15 rounds are not. This means a Virgin Islands gun owner who already possesses a standard 20- or 30-round magazine faces what the DOJ calls a "Hobson's choice": destroy a constitutionally protected piece of property, or keep it and risk arrest and incarceration.

This is not a theoretical concern. The DOJ filing cites June 12 testimony from Virgin Islands Assistant Police Commissioner Sean Santos Sr., who reportedly told lawmakers that VIPD "wholeheartedly agrees" with Act 9113 and intends to use its provisions as enforcement guidelines. When the police department responsible for enforcing a criminal prohibition says it will enforce it, gun owners shouldn't have to gamble with their freedom while waiting for a court to recognize the constitutional violation.

Why Cheeseman Changes Everything

The Cheeseman decision, handed down by the en banc Third Circuit on July 17, is the legal hammer behind the DOJ's motion. In that case, the court held that:

• Semi-automatic rifles are protected "Arms" under the plain text of the Second Amendment.
• Magazines are protected because they are necessary components of modern firearms — a gun without a magazine is little more than a paperweight.
• The government cannot evade constitutional protection by arbitrarily picking a magazine capacity number.

As the DOJ puts it: "Nothing more need be said. ANJRPC squarely holds that this is unconstitutional." The Virgin Islands selected 15 rounds as its limit. New Jersey chose ten. Neither number has a constitutional foundation. The Third Circuit has already rejected the idea that legislators can define the scope of the Second Amendment by playing a numbers game.

What This Means for FFLs

For FFL dealers operating in or shipping to the Virgin Islands, this litigation creates immediate practical questions:

• Pending the court's ruling, should you continue shipping standard-capacity firearms and magazines to the territory? The DOJ has asked the court to rule on its motion during the oral arguments already scheduled for August 19. Until then, Act 9113 remains on the books — but the DOJ's motion signals the federal government's view that the law is plainly unconstitutional.
• Are you tracking the compliance guidance promised by the New Jersey State Police? Separately, the NJSP has notified dealers that the Cheeseman decision takes effect July 31, 2026. Dealers are still waiting for the state's promised compliance guidance, creating an awkward gap between the court's ruling and practical business operations.
• The Virginia injunction in Santolla v. Katz took effect July 21, prompting Palmetto State Armory to immediately resume rifle and standard-capacity magazine shipments to Virginia. This is a real-world example of how fast the landscape changes when courts act.

These three developments — the Virgin Islands DOJ motion, the NJSP effective date, and the Virginia statewide injunction — tell a clear story: the Third Circuit's Cheeseman decision is reshaping gun laws across the entire circuit, and FFLs need to stay nimble.

What's Next

The DOJ's motion is a request for a preliminary injunction in the existing case United States v. Government of the Virgin Islands — a case the department originally filed in December 2025 challenging the territory's firearm-licensing system, including warrantless home inspections, mandatory bolted safes, excessive delays, and a discretionary "proper reason" carry requirement. The DOJ now argues that VIPD's intended enforcement of Act 9113 is "only the latest chapter" in a pattern of Second Amendment violations.

The motion asks the court to prohibit enforcement of the magazine ban for magazines holding up to 30 rounds and to block the restriction on transferring firearms manufactured to hold more than 15 rounds. The 30-round ceiling tracks the factual record the Third Circuit already accepted in Cheeseman — evidence that Americans possess well over 100 million standard-capacity AR-15 magazines.

The judge has not yet ruled, but the constitutional math is simple. The Virgin Islands cannot evade Cheeseman by replacing New Jersey's ten-round limit with a 15-round limit. The Second Amendment protects arms in common use, not merely the reduced-capacity substitutes politicians are willing to tolerate.

We'll be watching the August 19 hearing closely. For FFLs in the Third Circuit — which includes New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and the Virgin Islands — the Cheeseman ripple effects are just beginning.