Sen. Steven Payne Sr. was left breathless for a moment and quit his line of questioning when he learned that both machines which are used to screen for incoming guns at the V.I.’s airports are broken.
Payne’s questions Wednesday were directed at representatives of the Virgin Islands Port Authority during a Committee on Homeland Security, Justice and Public Safety hearing.
“We are not making firearms here. We are not making ammunition here. It is being brought in,” Payne said. He added he thinks most illegal guns are brought in through the airports.
Payne asked Damian Cartwright, acting executive director of VIPA, Edred Wilkes, chief of VIPA law enforcement for St. Thomas/St. John, and Louis Flynn, chief of VIPA law enforcement for St. Croix, if they knew how many young men had been killed with guns recently.
Payne said between 600 and 700 people have been killed with guns in the last 10 years. He said he believes VIPA has to do a better job of keeping illegal guns out.
Cartwright said the “place where a lot of holes need to be plugged” is in the cargo operations area and not in passenger areas of the airports.
Payne responded that he had a student when he was teaching who later became involved in gun trafficking. He said the former student would go the states to buy the guns and bring them back right through the airport and then sell them illegally. Payne said the youth was finally caught.
Sen. Novelle Francis, a former police commissioner, said he does not hold VIPA solely responsible for the problem of illegal firearms. He said there are many different components of the law enforcement community that hold responsibility.
Cartwright said that although it is VIPA’s responsibility to provide safe port facilities, the U.S. Coast Guard is the primary agency providing maritime security. VIPA received a grant from the Coast Guard to purchase a security vessel to monitor the St. Thomas and St. John seaports. It received the boat in 2018 and two officers are trained to pilot it. He added that, while there is no VIPA security boat on St. Croix, the Department of Planning and Natural Resources and V.I. Police Department aid with sea-side security in both districts.
VIPA is an autonomous government agency established 50 years ago as the owner and manager of the territory’s airports and seaports. It does not receive an allotment from the government of the Virgin Islands.
I wonder if the VIPD were to relinquish their guns and destroy all guns in their possession, if the supply of street guns would be affected. Just a thought.