Published July 23, 2026 at 11:41 AM ET · Updated July 23, 2026 at 4:56 PM ET
DOJ moves to block Virgin Islands assault weapon and magazine ban
1 independent outlets are covering this story. Verification: Watching — single-source — not yet independently corroborated. Patriot Watch links to original reporting; we don't republish it.
The Department of Justice has moved to block the Virgin Islands' ban on assault weapons and magazines. The action challenges the territory's restrictions on certain firearms and firearm accessories.
Patriot Watch first flagged this story 7 hr ago, when AmmoLand reported it. So far this remains a single-source report. The most recent report came 7 hr ago from AmmoLand. Verification tier: Watching — single-source — not yet independently corroborated.
⚖ The Constitutional Angle
Under Bruen the Virgin Islands must justify its ban by showing a historical tradition of comparable regulation. Caetano held the Second Amendment reaches arms that did not exist at the founding, so the ban cannot survive simply because these firearms are modern. Whether commonly owned rifles may be banned outright remains undecided at the Court, so the outcome is genuinely unsettled.
New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Kevin P. Bruen, Superintendent of New York State Police 597 U.S. 1 (2022)
Vote: 6-3 · Opinion: Thomas
New York's requirement that applicants demonstrate 'proper cause' — a special need for self-protection distinguishable from the general community — to obtain an unrestricted public-carry license violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public. The Court held the Second Amendment protects a right to carry handguns publicly for self-defense, and rejected the two-step means-end framework lower courts had applied after Heller.
Jaime Caetano v. Massachusetts 577 U.S. 411 (2016)
Vote: Unanimous per curiam (8-member Court, post-Scalia); no recorded vote split · Opinion: Per curiam (unsigned)
Summarily vacating the SJC's judgment without briefing on the merits or oral argument, the Court held that each of the SJC's three rationales contradicted Heller: the Second Amendment extends prima facie to all bearable arms, including those not in existence at the founding; 'unusual' cannot be equated with 'not in common use in 1789'; and protection is not limited to weapons useful in warfare. The case was remanded for further proceedings; the Court did not itself hold the Massachusetts ban unconstitutional.
Precedent facts from the PW Law Library — primary-source verified & independently audited
