Gun owners muster for RI State House hearing, looking to head off proposed restrictions

Yellow was the dominant color Wednesday as hundreds of Second Amendment advocates packed the State House rotunda in their annual show of opposition to firearms-related proposals under consideration by lawmakers.

But there still were pockets of gun control supporters in orange and red shirts in hallways and the House Lounge who came out to support most of the 17 bills the House Committee on Judiciary heard during nearly five hours of testimony. They were the first set of firearm-related legislation considered by the committee after mass shootings at Brown University and Pawtucket’s Dennis M. Lynch Arena.

Bills ranged from proposals to prohibit purchasing more than one firearm within a 30-day period, mandating background checks for buying ammunition and banning the possession of assault-style weapons.

Camilla Snyder, an organizer for Students Demand Action, was working at Rhode Island Hospital’s emergency room the day a gunman killed two and wounded nine others in the engineering building at Brown University on Dec. 13.

“The size of the tragedy was so large that we could not handle it,” Snyder told the committee. “A lot of this legislation I feel is nonpartisan. It stands to save a lot of lives.”

That’s not how the Second Amendment advocates who wandered the halls of the State House felt. Among them was Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Vic Mellor, who used the hearings to connect with prospective voters.

“We have a constitutional right to carry firearms and protect ourselves,” Mellor, who did not testify on any of the bills, said in an interview in the rotunda. “The state of Rhode Island is just impeding on it beyond belief.”

What drew the most attention from both sides of the gun debate was legislation by Rep. Teresa Tanzi, a South Kingstown Democrat, that would outright ban the possession of assault-style weapons as of Dec. 31. 

For Tanzi and other gun safety advocates, banning possession is seen as a way to “finish the job” of the law passed last year banning the manufacture and sale of military-style semi-automatic rifles, shotguns, and handguns starting July 1, 2026. 

“Right now, our law draws an arbitrary line,” Tanzi told the committee. “We have said the firearms cannot enter the marketplace going forward, but we continue to allow them to remain in circulation indefinitely. That undermines the very policy we put in place and makes enforcement more difficult.”

House lawmakers last June passed a more restrictive version of the ban that would have prohibited possession, but the Senate reworked the proposal in the final days of the 2025 session.

Ariana Wohl, board chair of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence, called the 2025 law a form of progress but one that still leaves a significant loophole.

“This bill is about taking initiative proactively before we could face another preventable tragedy,” she said.

Second Amendment advocates argue that banning possession of any firearm violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states weapons cannot be seized by the government for public use without just compensation.

“I will become a felon if this bill goes into effect for just owning property,” Dan Kesler, vice president of the North Kingstown based Para Bellum Provisions, said in an interview. “The first bill was bad enough.”

Even the lead sponsor of last year’s House bill to ban assault-style weapons in Rhode Island expressed reservations about having an outright ban without some sort of grandfather clause — which was included in his original version of the legislation.

“For things that are already in somebody’s hands, taking it away creates a problem,” Rep. Jason Knight, a Barrington Democrat who serves as first vice chair of the committee, said during the hearing. 

Tanzi contested that federal courts have allowed states to regulate dangerous items through police power. 

“We have defined which is dangerous and we have the right to regulate it into nonexistence,” she said. “We are not breaking new ground here.”

Also drawing the ire of many Second Amendment advocates was legislation by Rep. Susan Donovan, a Bristol Democrat, that would open the gun industry to civil lawsuits over crimes committed with their weapons.

Donovan’s bill would require firearm manufacturers and retailers to establish “reasonable controls,” such as avoiding sales to people who are buying guns for someone else, trafficking them, or legally barred from owning them.

“When someone is hurt because of their actions, that victim deserves the same access to our justice system as anyone else,” Donovan told the committee. 

But advocates say that would run afoul the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which largely shields firearms manufactures from qualified civil liability actions” in state or federal courts. 

“Manufacturers and retailers are not responsible for the subsequent criminal misuse or illegal possession of their lawfully sold, nondefective products by remote third parties – criminals – over whom they have no control,” Jake McGuigan, senior director of government relations for the National Shooting Sports Foundation and a former adviser to Gov. Donald Carcieri, wrote to the committee.

Donovan argues her legislation is well within the federal law, since it does allow states to enforce standards of “responsible business conduct” on the firearms industry.

“It’s about treating the firearms industry like any other industry in Rhode Island,” she said. 

Still, advocates like McGuigan and Kesler say such logic is flawed.

“You can’t sue the tire company when you run over something, or the guy that paved the road,” Kesler said.

Both sides submitted extensive testimony on legislation sponsored by Rep. Jen Boylan, a Barrington Democrat, that would require prospective gun owners to complete an eight-hour firearm safety course to obtain a permit to purchase any firearm. Under existing law, only those who purchase a pistol or revolver must undergo safety training.

“This would cut down on so many deaths,” Snyder told Rhode Island Current. “And it wouldn’t restrict any firearms or their sales. It’s an underspoken hero of tonight’s calendar of bills.”

Kesler said he understands the need for more training, noting that his nonprofit often teaches shooters how to properly handle a weapon. But he views Boylan’s bill as an expansion of state control over a constitutional right.

“You shouldn’t need a permit to exercise a right,” he said.

Second amendment advocates wrote in support of bipartisan legislation sponsored by Rep. Thomas Noret, a Coventry Democrat, that would create a formal appeal process for denied carry permit applications. The yellow shirts also supported legislation by Rep. Marie Hopkins, a Warwick Republican, that would allow students, professors, and other employees of public and private colleges and universities to carry a stun gun or pepper spray for self-defense.

All bills heard Wednesday were held by the committee for further study, as is standard procedure for initial legislative hearings.