As you know, gun confiscations were threatened by governor Mapp prior to hurricane Irma (he called it “seizures”).  Then he vacillated and equivocated and said that seizure doesn’t really mean seizure.  I’m sure he equivocated because of the negative attention he got from mainland U.S.

There are continuing reports of trouble on St. John and other locations throughout the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Fox News calls it a looter’s paradise, and the Miami Herald also has a good report.  There are many, many more.  I have written the author of the Miami Herald article (Jim Wyss) to see if he knows anything about whether guns were actually confiscated prior to, during or after the hurricane.  I have not heard anything back.  I don’t expect to.

I also wrote the nice woman who authors the blog News of St. John and asked her if she had any personal knowledge of such confiscations.  Of course, she got back with me immediately.  Imagine that.  A blogger responded immediately, the MSM writer ignored me.

At any rate, Jenn of News of St. John told me that she had heard that something like that was going to happen but didn’t have any direct knowledge of it, and had no experience with it herself.  I asked her to inform me if she learned anything else.

But it occurred to me that whether guns were confiscated or the islanders simply didn’t have them because of an oppressive gun control scheme, the end result is the same.  They had no means of effecting self defense, and hence, the fear and terror through which the peaceable and law abiding men and women live.

This is something I intend to keep tracking as I have the time.  If any of my readers find reports on what actually occurred prior to, during or after the hurricane, please send them to me or link them in the comments.  I cannot imagine a better object lesson for why you need guns than this.

UPDATE:  Jim Wyss of the Miami-Herald replied to my note.

Dear Mr. Smith,

Thanks for your note. The short answer is I have no idea if firearms were collected before the storm, and it has been incredibly difficult to get a hold of anyone since I left the islands on Monday. However, Gov. Mapp is holding a press conference today in St. Thomas and I’m hoping he’ll address some of these concerns. As you are probably aware, there are a lots of rumors (hopefully erroneous) about armories being raided, etc.

Best of luck,

Jim Wyss

Latin America Correspondent Miami Herald Bogota, Colombia

Thanks to Jim for the reply.  I really appreciate it.  Unfortunately, I don’t put much stock in the press conference or anything communicated by the governor.  What interests me are reports from the ground by people who were there, or people who are still there.  I’m also interested in what happened with gun stores (are there any on St. John?) and the N.G. armory.  It may take a FOIA request to find out this last part, since any theft of the armory will have to be cataloged.

As always, I’m still supremely interested in whether guns were confiscated, and whether they actually expended effort going door to door demanding that peaceable people hand over their only means of self defense during a time when they (the government) should have been preparing for the storm.  I’m also interested in gun control laws on St. John.  Again, this is as good an object lesson as any imaginable.  If the reports are accurate, St. John was dystopia after the storm.  Now, let’s examine the role of weapons in the aftermath.

Prior:

Apocalyptic News From The U.S. Virgin Islands

Hurricane Irma Survivors Face Looting And Violence

U.S. Virgin Islands Governor Orders Confiscation Of Weapons In Advance Of Hurricane