Police said to leave cookies

Interesting. I'd be interested purely in bringing guns with me to the island for home defense and target shooting. Can anybody tell me the process for legally bringing hand guns and or long guns with me when I relocate soon? I saw a post saying just declare everything through the airline, bring a lockable safe, and then you have 24 hours to register after arriving in St. Croix. I found another post saying you had to send a letter to some commissioner.

Can anybody walk me through the appropriate legal steps? Also how do I contact the range or D&J Shooting Gallery in case I want to get setup for the class that allows me to get a carry permit (I have one now in WA state)? I struck out using Google and yellow.com for a phone number. Any hints would be appreciated.

You can look up the numbers you need here: http://www.viphonebook.com/Main.asp

When you say pressure. You mean pay right?

chockaman, isn't what you are referring to known as the Tueller drill? I read about this in a firearms self defense book a few years back. It's nice to know that there are level headed people like you who are relocating to St. Croix. I currently am living in Alaska and am relocating to St. Croix hopefully in October of 2008. I really want to meet people on the island who are avid shooters because I love to shoot. I was looking at the St. Croix Marksmanship Association as a good way of exercising this activity safely and legally. The day they come for my guns is the day for the first time in my life I become an outlaw.

if you live in america your life has probably been spared for you unknowingly at some point in your life by a citizen legally carrying a firearm. in america you have the right to keep and bear arms. this is what is known in gun circles as the "equalizing effect" it doesn't matter what the predator uses to attack you. what the gun haters want to do is to take everyone's guns away, soon most of the killings by predators will be done with knives and people will begin to protect themselves with knives, then they will come in and take everyone's knives away. soon all killings will be done by hand, then they'll just pack everybody up in train cars and send them to concentration camps to be burned alive.

historically when the citizens ability to protect themselves is taken away it leads down a slippery slope of tyranny. this is where america is headed. guns are not the issue. people are the issue. so as long as it is legal for one in this country to protect him/herself with a firearm, they should.

yes, i agree that the law inforcement should do more to help stave the crime problems, but when it comes down to it, i don't keep a cop in my back pocket, and anybody who thinks that government or municipality can save you has bought into a lie and accepted "victimship"

law abiding gun owners are not fanatics. they are not out to kill people. the media NEVER, and i mean, NEVER reports on how many lives are saved by guns.

"a gun never killed nobody, but many a gun has been used to kill"

i am so glad to see so many people relocating to st. croix who want to carry. i too am from WA state and have a carry license from there. i was thinking about giving the SCMA (St. Croix Marksmanship Association) a call 340-773-8555, i'm pretty sure they would know exactly what you would need to do to bring a firearm to the island. They also have a website.

http://www.shootingclub.vi/

I am going to start a new thread on "Gun Ownership on-Island"

"law abiding gun owners are not fanatics"

I'm not calling you a fanatic but you're the first one I've seen on this board whose only posts about relocating are about guns & shooting. You don't have any other questions about moving here?

well i grew up with 22's behind the kitchen door,my grandparents lived on a farm and thats just the way it was, we learned as small children to leave them alone, they were there for protection,hunting and to shoot any strays that came around,my grandfather would sit in the back yard overlooking his lake and shoot the chipmonks a few times a week for target practice,my partners brother started taking his 2 boys hunting when they were like 6 and they are teens now with their own hunting rifles.Hunting is good.The 2nd amendment is good. anything other than a rifle or a 22 is not so good,and while i support the right to keep and bear arms i do not support your right to carry anything other than a rifle or a shotgun,i also do not support your right to keep and carry concealed weapons, the argument that "well the criminals do"is just a case of "keeping up with the jones". and the rest of the quote goes like this "guns kill people like spoons made rosie o'donnel fat"

and please take the time to learn the thought theory and history at the time the 2nd amendment was written, technically is was meant for free white men only,about 600 years of history bought about the 2 sentence structure that everyone quotes so freely and knows nothing about

I grew up in the 60s and 70s. Everyone had a shot gun or rifle in the house for protection and hunting. All young boys carried a pocket knife even to school. Most of the boys and some of the girls I knew also carried rifles on a gun rack in their pickup trucks even to school. I cannot remember one incident of anyone shooting or stabbing anyone else even when a fight broke out. We have always had a gun in our house. Never once has one of my children ever touched them unless we were shooting targets. They were all taught at age 8 or 9 how to shoot and what a gun could do. Because of my lack of education and understanding of the law on STX I have not tried to bring our guns here and I must say that I feel very venerable armed only with a machete and 3 rotties to protect my family. I have never applied for or carried a concealed weapon and don't feel the need to do so.

Our society has changed so much. Young people shoot and kill others in anger. Thieves rob others but instead of taking what they want and leaving they kill or harm their victims. It is amazing to me the amount of violent crime committed by children and young adults. I have my theories on why this is happening. It is not acceptable to discipline your children, children are raised in daycare because both parents work, we now have two generations of children who are drugged on teacher recommendation to keep them docile in the classroom when most of them just need some attention from their parents, ie, discipline. Unsupervised use of the computer, television and phone. Well, I could go on and on and though my thoughts on the subject are unpopular to say the least, I will continue to advise young mothers to take the time to raise their children or don't have them. Sorry for the rant.

Tammy

My theory is chronic overstimulation. Seriously.

dougtamjj, you just said it all!!!!! Thank you

Dougtamjj, I have to say I think you hit a lot of nails on their heads. I just read your other post about playing with your son (and getting some productive things done at the same time!), and you sound like such a cool mom... and yet you're also teaching him the lessons he needs to learn.

I have no experience to speak from (unless you count a little brother and lots of neighbors to babysit when I was a teenager), but I see a lot of what you mentioned in the kids I treat in the ER. As I write this, there is a 3 year old shooting victim who is in the operating room. Apparently his parents had a drug dispute with someone, and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We routinely see young teenagers who swear they can't possibly be pregnant... and yet... the test comes back positive. Kids are sometimes brought in for minor things like a cough/cold because their parents are fed up with the kid's cough keeping them awake at night. School is an afterthought to many of these kids and their parents.

It's very sad. It's no wonder some of these kids wind up being criminals. (Not that I believe you can do whatever you want and blame your bad childhood... but that seems to be what often happens.)

Thank you trw and roadrunner for your kind words. My kids didn't always think I was the coolest mom because I was never afraid to damage their fragile self esteems by embarrassing them in public when they misbehaved. Again, I am not very popular with young parents today because I am firm in my belief that parents not babysitters, daycare or teachers should raise your children. Many mothers say that they have to work. I had to work too. I worked at their schools. I started home business so that I could be with them and as they got older they worked with me as well. I have 3 adult children who still work for me. Sorry folks. As you can tell I am passionate about this subject which is getting a bit off topic. As it relates to the topic of crime, I believe if parents start raising their children again, passing along good morals, respect for others, kindness, tolerance and reinforce these behaviors with discipline and tough love, when needed, that we will eventually put a serious dent in juvenile crime. If not then I hate to think how this will all end up. OK guys, I really am done with this rant of mine. Have a good day.

trade, yes i do have some other questions, this was just the icebreaker i guess. i respect you folks and your backgrounds and opinions and am not here to start arguments. i posted in another thread here that you don't have to worry about me showing up on your island and shooting up all the wildlife! this subject just happens to be very important to me and when i saw another poster was a gun supporter it got me excited to see others like me. but again, my goal is of course not to turn the island into a gun club! and according to some of the responses here by mothers, there are still mothers out there who have their heads on straight and have wisdom to offer that i can learn from, i appreciate the insight.

i mainly want to move to the islands because i'm sick of the dark and cold in alaska, the long, loooooong winters, and believe it or not our way of life here in fairbanks is way to fast for my liking. i'm seeking some sort of serenity and isolation, without being "isolated" all by myself. i guess the big question i have, my main concern is of course income and expenses. it looks to me like if you are not retiring, or own a business, or are not a rockefeller, life will be pretty rough on the island.

the other question i had was that of the crime issue on the island. some posters here speak nothing of crime on the island which is usually the first thought that comes to mind to an outsider, and then all of the sudden i read some pretty disheartening stories of robberies, shootings, break-ins and car stripping. crime here in fairbanks is pretty close to what i hear of st. croix, the main difference is that st. croix is an island, do i want to be stuck on an island where i constantly need to be worried about my self, belongings, and a constant crick in my neck from looking over my shoulder. i only pose this question as a genuine concern, not out of paranoia. maybe a few of you could clear this up for me.

Well, I've managed to survive with no bullet holes for 26 years all by my lonesome. I'm not the only one. Crime isn't the only thing happening in these islands. Of course, it's a problem as it is anywhere.

With the right skills & work ethic it's entirely possible to live here & work one job instead of 3 & make a decent living if you're a hard worker who shows up, gets along & is honest. The only rough times were post-hurricane but it was rough for everyone then.

I have lived in Alaska and here and people think its strange when I say they are very similar places.

Hard life for statesiders my butt. I know people paint that picture for you because its annoying to have unskilled people with their hands out flood the island because they know there are palm trees here, but if you are hard working and have a skill or two then its fine. A really good life actually, if you can manage to stay away from drugs and drinking, which many statesiders can't. Maybe people focus on the crime so much because its one of the few drawbacks to life here, just like people are obsessed with Alaskan winters. Like how many times do people ask you about the long winter nights in Fairbanks? (Personally, the first thing that comes to mind for me is giant cabbage. Hah!) But the cold and darkness aren't the only thing about Alaska, and crime and drugs aren't the only thing about here.

Although I will say if you can't find serenity and isolation in Alaska, you sure as heck won't find it here. You really just need a change. Seriously. Go spend the summer somewhere else in AK, just to mix it up and get a change of scenery. Take a month in the off season to stay here and get an idea as to what's actually going on. Maybe you can even get some shootin' in. 🙂

Anyone know what was going on tonight around 9:00 or 10:00 or so in the St. C area? (or that general direction). There were several emergency vehicles, then the power went out. (I assume that was not related) and a while later it sounded like a major event of some sort. Lots of sirens, flashing lights, etc.

Since it was too late to make the Sunday / Monday Avis, I'll have to wait for the Tues. paper.

Juanita I was wondering the same thing also. I live in the Princesse area, and i heard the sirens, but to me it sounded like they were headed towards the north western side of the island.

I heard them as well in cotton valley

We can see the road to St. C from our house, and they were definitely going down 751 toward Judith's Fancy and making a right either at the turn off to St. C, which also takes you to the back of the projects over there, or the road before the turn to St. C.
We road down there a little while ago, but everything looked normal. Just another Saturday night, I guess.

there was a really bad accident in morningstar yesterday afternoon i saw a towtruck loading what was left of the other car when i was driving to the 18milebenefit job and i asked a friend of mine at STX rescue if there was an accident and friend said yes but i did not ask anymore questions because friend kind of got pale all of a sudden so i assume it was a baddie, i also asked friend about the princess thing and friend looked really confused about that one, like "what are you talking about" so i doubt that one is true.

There was a medical emergency at the yacht club Sat afternoon, so the ambulance went out there and back, but it was late afternoon, not night...and amazingly, (for anywhere, not even just considering it was stx) there seems to have been a good ending for the person involved...Heart attack on a boat out at/near BI--not only was there a doctor handy, but there was a defillibrator available too---surgery at the hospital and I hear the patient is doing well...sometimes the stars all align...

I've reading this message list and others about how the police on STX show an unwillingness to answer residents complaints or investigate crimes to islanders and or statesiders(tourist),my question is why aren't the residents of the island and the major business's(whom have the money) protesting the local government to address this issue of insensitive police officers/chief and the lack of adequate protection for the tourist and residents alike, whom both spend their hard earned money on the island, is it so ridiculous to expect a certain amount of protection and sensitivity from law enforcement.? Perhaps better training and upgraded equipment may boost morale among the law enforcement community and grass-root programs for the juveniles, but are the islanders willing to pay for that protection in an place where its expensive to live?

erkm,

Fancier equipment always boosts morale but how will that help the community? Crime isn't a problem because of inadequate funding, outdated equipment, or unhappy cops. On a small island, the criminals and law enforcement personnel played together, went to school together, married into each other's families, and cops don't want to arrest their family and friends. And there are some cops who are criminals. And, of course, West Indians don't want continentals telling them there's room for improvement in how they run schools, how they enforce laws, how they prosecute alleged criminals, etc., so there isn't much change in the status quo. And when half of the population is employed by the local government, and everyone knows someone in the government and is benefiting in some small way from that association, nobody wants the system to be changed in a way that will eliminate their benefit. If you think higher taxes will fix what ails the USVI, you haven't spent enough time here.