Legislation which would ban so-called “assault weapons” in Rhode Island drew hundreds of angry citizens to the State House in Providence, where Second Amendment activists outnumbered gun ban supporters by a wide margin.
The Rhode Island Current is reporting that “nearly 2,000 people” showed up for a hearing on House Bill No. 5436, which is supported by Democrat Gov. Dan McKee. The pro-rights faction was easy to spot, as many wore bright yellow T-shirts to contrast with orange and red T-shirts worn by anti-gunners.
One opponent of the measure is veteran gun rights activist Jeff Gross, who told TGM he is furious about the legislation. Gross said the line of people hoping to attend the hearing stretched far outside the building. He did not attend the hearing personally, but monitored it.
On the other side, arguments supporting the proposed ban were typical of the emotional opposition to gun ownership, especially modern semiautomatic rifles, which traditionally is heard at such hearings across the country.
WJAR News quoted Tony Morettini with Moms Demand Action, who stated, “If this stops one person from being able to buy one of these weapons that maybe had something bad in mind, it’s worth it, especially if that person was heading to my granddaughter’s school.”
Another anti-gunner quoted by the Current, Melissa Carden with the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence, declared, “Everyone deserves to live free from gun violence. The time for change is now and the vast majority of Rhode Islanders want to end this preventable bloodshed.”
If it passes, the Rhode Island Assault Weapons Ban Act of 2025 would take effect Jan. 1, 2026.
Under provisions in the 9-page bill, current owners of the affected guns would have one year to register them with their local police department or the state police. Otherwise, the guns would either have to be gotten rid of, made permanently inoperable or surrendered to the police. Violators would face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
According to the Current, a recent poll by the Rhode Island AFL-CIO found 64 percent of state residents support the ban.
The newspaper also reported that more than 550 messages regarding the proposal have been submitted online.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Jason Knight (D-Barrington), who reportedly told the committee, “We as a General Assembly have an obligation to think about and do things to ensure the public trust, given the increase and uptick in mass murder in the United States.”
Both the newspaper and broadcast station quoted Brenda Jacob, described as a lobbyist and secretary for the Rhode Island Revolver & Rifle Association, insisting that criminals “are never going to obey these laws.” She said the legislation is “offensive” and that it amounts to “an all weapons ban.”
One Glocester retailer, identified as William Worthy at Big Bear Fishing and Hunting, and the Range RI in Exeter, estimated the legislation, if enacted, would make “roughly 60 percent” of the firearms he sells illegal. He offered a gloomy forecast which included layoffs and even the closure of his business.
Worthy said the firearms and hunting industry “brings $360 million to the bottom line, so where would you replace that?”
Statistically, banning modern semiautomatic rifles may not stand up under scrutiny of homicide and violent crime data. In any given year, according to annual crime data from the FBI, only between 2 and 4 percent of all murders are committed with rifles of any kind. In 2022, the most recent year for which data was available from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Rhode Island reported only 14 homicides and 23 suicides which involved firearms. The report noted that Rhode Island had the lowest overall gun death rate and gun-related suicide rate in the country that year.
