In the wake of the mass shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead in Uvalde, Texas, Gov. Dan McKee signed three bills into law Tuesday to strengthen gun control in Rhode Island.
“The gun violence epidemic is one of the most pressing issues facing our nation,” he said. “It’s imperative that we do everything we can to end gun violence and create safer communities. Every Rhode Islander deserves to feel safe in the community they call home.”
The first bill is a ban on largecapacity gun magazines, which has “no legitimate purpose for hunting or self-defense,” according to the sponsor, Sen. Cynthia Coyne.
“They enable shooters to unleash torrents of bullets and inflict maximum harm in mere seconds, making them a tool of the trade for mass shootings, drug trafficking and gang violence,” she said.
The law prohibits the possession, sale and transfer of any feeding device capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition to be fed continuously into a semi-automatic firearm. People who already own these large-capacity magazines and weapons will have 180 days to comply with the law by either permanently altering the weapon, turning it into law enforcement, or selling it to someone in a state where it is lawfully entitled to own it.
The second law raises the legal age to purchase firearms and ammunition from 18 to 21. According to the sponsors, six of the nine deadliest mass shootings since 2018 were carried out by people younger than 22. Current state law bans the sale or possession of handguns to people under 21, but allows them to buy and possess rifles and shotguns. This law changes that to cover all firearms and ammunition.
That third law makes the definitions of “rifle” and “shotgun” consistent with federal law, and prohibits the open carry of any loaded rifle or shotgun in public. The provisions of the act do not apply to law enforcement or legally licensed hunters.
Rhode Island’s attorney general, Jamestown resident Peter Neronha, said these laws are “long overdue.”
“There is no one measure, or even set of measures, that will solve the gun violence problem facing this country,” he said. “But there are some things we can do to make progress, while respecting the rights of lawabiding gun owners.”
Ed Mello, Jamestown’s chief of police, sees no problem with these laws “from a law enforcement perspective,” and said they “will be effective in terms of minimizing the access” of firearms to dangerous people.
Jamestown’s delegation in the state legislature, Rep. Deb Ruggiero and Sen. Dawn Euer, both Democrats, voted for all three laws.
While members of their party were responsible for the introduction and passages of these bills, Rhode Island Republicans had concerns. Their main issue was taking away high-capacity magazines from people who already own them.
“This is rather breathtaking. In just a few months, tens of thousands of Rhode Island gun owners could become felons,” the GOP said in a statement.
“Never have so many lawabiding citizens been put at risk for jail time since the days of Prohibition when possession of alcohol was a crime. A few weeks ago, the General Assembly decided to pass a law that expunged any criminal convictions related to marijuana possession even though, at the time, marijuana was illegal. Now that same General Assembly wants to make possession of certain capacity magazines a crime even though the magazine was bought at a time when it was legal in Rhode Island. This makes no sense. Not even the Democrats in Massachusetts went so far as to turn law-abiding gun owners into criminals.”
