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., cities 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.
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