Gun Control Fails in Rhode Island

RI assault weapons ban fizzles in General Assembly

Published: July 7, 2013
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — After the deadly school massacre in Newtown, Conn.,
top Rhode Island leaders gathered to recommend ways to crack
down on gun violence. Topping the list were proposals to ban
semi-automatic assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

The idea came from Gov. Lincoln Chafee, House Speaker Gordon
Fox, Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed and Attorney General
Peter Kilmartin and had the backing of the mayors of Providence,
Pawtucket and Central Falls.

Yet the gun control legislation was left to languish when
legislators adjourned their 2013 session Wednesday. Other
proposals to change the way handgun licenses are awarded or to
require gun owners to pay a $100-per-gun registration fee also
failed after huge protest rallies at the Statehouse.

Instead, legislators passed legislation that would increase jail
time for carrying a stolen firearm while committing a violent crime.
They also voted to make it illegal to possess a gun with a
destroyed serial number.

The General Assembly also voted to create a task force to study
adding mental health records to the information used in firearm
background checks. Rhode Island currently doesn't share mental
health information with the federal background check system.

After the Connecticut rampage in December, gun control
supporters in Rhode Island held rallies at the Statehouse to call on
lawmakers to enact the assault weapons ban. The Newtown police
chief traveled to the Statehouse to testify in support,
but the momentum quickly dissipated.

"I was deeply disappointed," said House Rep. Teresa Tanzi, D-
South Kingstown. "I know there's more that can be done, but
the sad truth is tragedy happens, people are motivated, but
people's lives go on."

In response to the proposals, gun rights supporters held rallies of
their own that attracted thousands to the Statehouse to protest
what they said were politically motivated attempts to violate
their 2nd Amendment rights. Many lawmakers agreed.

The bills that did pass attracted support from both sides and was
pushed through nearly unanimously. Rep. Mike Chippendale, R-
Foster, one of the leading opponents of the proposed ban on
assault weapons, said he was pleased both sides were able to
work together to create proposals that didn't infringe on gun
owners' rights. He said the more ambitious gun control proposals
wouldn't have stopped gun crime or prevented another massacre.

He singled out the legislation to study mental health records and
background checks as an example of legislation that could one day
prevent a shooting rampage like the one in Newtown.

"Here we are, getting to the root of what we've been seeing
tragically across this nation," he said, noting that mental illness
is "the one common factor that we've seen over and over again."

Fox, who joined Chafee, Kilmartin and Paiva Weed to announce
the gun control package in April, said at the time that the
Newtown massacre was a "wakeup call for all of us" and that the
gun control bills would help prevent another rampage and daily
acts of gun violence seen on urban streets.

On Wednesday, after the 2013 session ended without votes on
most of the package, Fox was succinct.

"We passed what we could," he said.