Dear Source:
The Virgin Islands is a territory of the United States of America; this unique relationship gives us the freedom to take a stand within the United States, and beyond if necessary, to demand that our home, these beautiful Virgin Islands, be designated, recognized and supported as a gun free territory.
Arguments that gun lobbyists use in the states have no validity here…Virgin Islanders don't need guns to defend themselves against invaders. Rest assured that if anyone tries to take away their hard won freedom, Virgin Islanders will meet them and defeat them. We don't need to have our beautiful Islands, our families and our society racked, riddled and torn apart by gun violence, in anticipation of that "someday" when an invader may arrive on our shores. Virgin Islanders defended themselves and won their freedom without guns before, and if necessary, will do it again.
Gun lobbyists who would argue for a "so called" right to hunt in the Virgin Islands, are out of step, particularly when you consider the game. What shall we hunt? Sparrows? Trushie? Mongoose or Iguana? The sad little deer? Tragically, in the modern day Virgin Islands, the primary prey is human beings, young men hunting young men, our young men, our children.
Virgin Islanders know that if you let children play with dangerous things (and guns are dangerous things and the people playing with them are our children), sooner or later, they will hurt themselves or others. We know that. We also know that ultimately, no one, not the United States or anyone else, should have the right to force us to have guns in our territory, if we the people have decided that we don't want them.
It is time that Virgin Islanders (I, you, we) make a stand…What will it take for us to make our territory gun free? Our absolute commitment to stand together to make it so…that is all my friends, that is all.
Let's get started and let our community leaders, our Senators, our Governor, The United States Congress, our President and the whole world know that the people of the Virgin Islands have decided. From this point forward, we intend to be a gun free territory.
Let us reject any philosophy that would force or impose guns on our society and be united in our commitment that "no matter what it takes", our Virgin Islands could be, should be and will be, free of guns and gun violence. Let's make the Virgin Islands a gun free Territory, and let's get started right now!
Scott Fagan
St. Thomas
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