COCKBURN TOWN, Turks and Caicos (CBS19 NEWS) -- Earlier this year, multiple Americans were arrested in a British Overseas Territory for having ammunition in their bags.

Now Turks and Caicos has revised part of its firearms law.

According to CNN, this comes weeks after a bipartisan delegation of members of the U.S. Congress traveled to the islands and asked for charges to be dropped against the Americans, including one from Louisa County.

The politicians said each of the Americans charged had “inadvertently” brought ammunition to the islands.

The law made it a crime to bring firearms or ammunition into the territory without prior permission from police there.

On June 14, an amendment passed the House of Assembly, clarifying the law regarding sentencing for firearms-related offenses.

Prior to this, the law had mandated a fine and a prison sentence of 12 years though judges could hand down reduced sentences under “exceptional circumstances.”

A member of the House of Assembly explains that the law often led to disproportionately harsh sentences that did not always fit the nature of the crime or the circumstances around it.

The mandatory minimum prison sentence of 12 years is unchanged, but if the court finds exceptional circumstances, it can impose a custodial sentence or a fine or both.

Tyler Wenrich of Louisa County pleaded guilty to a charge of having ammunition in his bag. He was sentenced to time served and fined $9,000. After paying the fine, he returned to Virginia.