PROVIDENCE – The House on Thursday approved legislation that would ban the manufacture, purchase, sale, transfer and possession of several types of semiautomatic and accessorized firearms, commonly referred to by gun control advocates as “assault” or “military-style” weapons.
These include shotguns with fixed capacities exceeding six rounds and semi-automatic rifles with fixed magazine capacities greater than 10 rounds.
Sponsored by Rep. Jason Knight, D-Barrington, the Rhode Island Assault Weapons Ban Act of 2025 is supported by all five of the state’s general officers and a majority of the House.
“Uvalde, Parkland, Las Vegas, the Pulse nightclub, Newtown, Aurora – in all of our nation’s deadliest mass shootings, the tool that enabled the perpetrator to kill so many victims was an assault weapon,” said Knight, who has been sponsoring or cosponsoring versions of the bill since 2018.
“They are preferred weapon of mass shooters because their sole purpose is to vastly increase the magnitude of death and destruction their user can inflict. We don’t need them here in Rhode Island.”
Despite 40 of the House’s 75 members signing on as cosponsors, the hours-long debate included several representatives from both political parties speaking out against the ban. The measure passed with a 43-28 vote.
With the U.S. Supreme Court likely to take up the issue, Rep. Charlene Lima, D-Cranston, said the legislation would fail to improve public safety while potentially exposing the state to costly legal battles.
"The lawyers are going to get rich and the taxpayers are going to lose," she said.
The bill would levy felony criminal penalties on violators of up to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to $10,000, but it provides exemptions for current and retired law enforcement officers, active-duty members or military reserves and federally licensed firearm dealers. It also grandfathers in individuals who lawfully possessed the prohibited firearms before July 6, 2026, the effective date of the ban.
Initially, the legislation included a mandatory registry with state or local law enforcement, but it was replaced with a “voluntary” program whereby gun owners can secure a certificate of proof that they owned the firearms before the law’s effective date.
Several amendments proposed on the House floor were voted down, including downgrading violations of the ban to a misdemeanor and another that would allow sportsmen to transport firearms falling under the ban to hunting areas on private land they don’t own.
Overall, opponents of the ban’s central argument was that the law would infringe on Second Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitutional.
”I hate to break it to you, but people far smarter than all of us created this Republic,” said House Minority Leader Michael W. Chippendale. “And we are destroying it with measures like this.”
Sen. Louis P. DiPalma, D-Middletown, has sponsored a Senate companion bill, which was held for further study by the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 14 and has not been scheduled for a full floor vote.
In a statement R.I. GOP Chairman Joe Powers said the gun ban is “a political Trojan horse."
“They’re hoping you won’t notice your rights being stripped away, one inch at a time,” he said.
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com
Excellent. The Supreme Court already ruled just 3 days ago to let Maryland’s Assault Weapon ban stand and also for RI’s other gun control to stand. There were only 3 dissents. That’s a 6-3 margin. We need to get this done in the Senate.