Posted September 6, 2017 9:30 am by Comments

By Chris Eger

Members of the Virgin Islands National Guard training during a national disaster response exercise May 16, 2017. (Photo: U.S. Army)
Second Amendment groups are in arms over orders given by the Caribbean territory’s governor activating the islands’ military forces and granting them emergency powers.
With powerful Category 5 Hurricane Irma tracking for the islands, Gov. Kenneth Mapp (I) called out the 1,000-member Virgin Islands National Guard and, as first reported by the Daily Caller, issued orders to Adjutant General Deborah Howell on Monday that the force is “authorized and directed to seize arms, ammunition, explosives, incendiary material and any other property that may be required by the military forces for the performance of this emergency mission.”
The news was immediately greeted with a broadside from the nation’s largest gun rights group, who threatened legal action. Describing Mapp’s order as “dangerous and unconstitutional,” the National Rifle Association condemned the move, pointing to past litigation concerning guns seized in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
As the island government’s social media pages experienced a backlash from concerned citizens over the order, Mapp’s administration clarified the nature of the instructions late Tuesday.
“As a matter of law, when the National Guard is activated in an emergency situation

Source: Guns.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.