Nov. 8, 2007 — More than half the guns being used in violent crimes in the territory started out in the hands of legal owners.
Information gathered by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) in tracing recovered guns found that 56 to 60 percent of those used in violent crimes in the territory had been either stolen from or lost by their original legal owners, Police Commissioner James McCall said at a press conference Thursday.
"Nobody steals a gun unless they have a purpose for it," first assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Murphy said at the same conference. And that purpose is always nefarious, he suggested.
The press conference was called to announce a bust that netted four guns — one an assault rifle — this week on St. Croix. The other three included a 12-gauge shotgun, a Marlin 336, which was described by James. N. Doby, Drug Enforcement Administration resident agent in charge, as a long gun rifle, and another rifle. Several boxes of ammunition for each firearm were also found at the scene.
Leslie Bradshaw, 21, of Frederiksted was arrested and charged on federal counts of unauthorized possession of unlicensed firearms and unauthorized possession of ammunition and possession of stolen property.
In light of the information about the nature of illegal guns in the territory, it is incumbent upon legal gun owners to secure their weapons, both McCall and Murphy emphasized throughout the meeting which was held in the library of the Attorney General's Office on St. Thomas.
Murphy also talked about the statistics on homicide and its victims. The FBI's 2006 murder rate index indicated there were approximately 5.7 homicides per 100,000 people in the United States. Last year the U.S. Virgin Islands saw 42 homicides, about seven times the U.S. average, and there have been 33 so far this year.
"If you think about that number, it's sobering," Murphy said.
He also said males between the ages of 14 and 28 were the most likely victims. "If you are a young man between 18 and 28, your chances of being killed with a firearm are substantially greater," he said.
The perpetrators and the victims have several commonalities, Murphy said. They tend to come from similar socioeconomic backgrounds.
Murphy said the determining factor in who lives or dies, however, simply boils down to who is the better shot. "One of them gets lucky, that's all," he said.
"The territory has a serious problem with firearms and drugs," according to Doby. The two go hand in hand, he said.
There are about 4,500 registered gun owners in the territory, St. Croix Police Chief Thomas Hannah said in a phone interview Thursday. Those 4,500 own about 14,500 guns.
McCall said gun ownership is a serous responsibility and he plans to bring that home to owners even if he has to have his gun squad check every location where guns are kept to be sure they are secured.
The St. Croix gun bust was a combined effort of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force (HIDTA) and the V.I. Police Department's Street Enforcement Team.
"It's very hard to kill somebody, but not with a gun," Murphy said after the meeting, shaking his head.
Attorney General Vincent Frazer, who has signed an agreement with the VIPD to cooperate on all major investigations, was also in attendance Thursday.
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