PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island’s Democratic-controlled state Home on Friday accepted laws that might ban the sale and manufacturing of many semiautomatic rifles generally known as assault weapons.
The proposal now heads to the desk of Democratic Gov. Dan McKee, who has mentioned he helps assault weapons bans. If the invoice is signed into legislation, Rhode Island will be part of 10 states which have some kind of prohibition on high-powered firearms that have been as soon as banned nationwide and at the moment are largely the weapon of alternative amongst these liable for a lot of the nation’s devastating mass shootings.
Gun management advocates have been pushing for an assault weapons ban in Rhode Island for greater than a decade. Nevertheless, regardless of being a Democratic stronghold, lawmakers all through the nation’s smallest state have lengthy quibbled over the need and legality of such proposals.
The invoice solely applies to the sale and manufacturing of assault weapons and never possession. Solely Washington state has a similar law. Residents seeking to buy an assault weapon from close by New Hampshire or elsewhere may even be blocked. Federal legislation prohibits individuals from touring to a special state to buy a gun and returning it to a state the place that exact of weapon is banned.
9 states and the District of Columbia have bans on the possession of assault weapons, protecting main cities like New York and Los Angeles. Hawaii bans assault pistols.
Democratic Rep. Rebecca Kislak described the invoice throughout flooring debates Friday as an incremental transfer that brings Rhode Island according to neighboring states.
“I’m gravely dissatisfied we’re not doing extra, and we must always do extra,” she mentioned. “And given the chance to do that or nothing, I’m voting to do one thing.”
Critics of Rhode Island’s proposed legislation argued that assault weapons bans do little to curb mass shootings and solely punish individuals with such rifles.
“This invoice doesn’t go after criminals, it simply places the burden on law-abiding residents,” mentioned Republican Sen. Thomas Paolino.
Republican Rep. Michael Chippendale, Home minority chief, predicted that if the laws have been to turn out to be legislation, the U.S. Supreme Courtroom would ultimately deem it unconstitutional.
“We’re throwing away cash on this,” he mentioned.
It wasn’t simply Republicans who opposed the laws. David Hogg — a gun control advocate who survived the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida — and the Rhode Island Coalition In opposition to Gun Violence described the proposed ban because the “weakest assault weapons ban within the nation.”
“I do know that Rhode Islanders deserve a robust invoice that not solely bans the sale, but additionally the possession of assault weapons. It’s this mix that equals public security,” Hogg mentioned in an announcement.
Elisabeth Ryan, coverage counsel at Everytown for Gun Security, rejected claims that the proposed legislation is weak.
“The weakest legislation is what Rhode Island has now, no ban on assault weapons,” Ryan mentioned. “This might create an actual, enforceable ban on the sale and manufacture of assault weapons, similar to the legislation already working in Washington state, getting them off the cabinets of Rhode Island gun shops as soon as and for all.”
Nationally, assault weapons bans have been challenged in court docket by gun rights teams that argue the bans violate the Second Modification. AR-15-style firearms are among the many best-selling rifles within the nation.
The conservative-majority Supreme Courtroom could quickly take up the problem. The justices declined to listen to a problem to Maryland’s assault weapons ban in early June, however three conservative justices — Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas — publicly famous their disagreement. A fourth, Brett Kavanaugh, indicated he was skeptical that the bans are constitutional and predicted the court docket would hear a case “within the subsequent time period or two.”
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Golden reported from Seattle. Related Press writers David Lieb in Jefferson Metropolis, Missouri and Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.
