On Thursday night, the Providence City Council passed a resolution banning all semi-automatic firearms in the city. This resolution passed with 8 votes, 6 opposed and 1 abstention. This sweeping gun ban proclamation is an all-out assault on the Second Amendment rights of Rhode Islanders.
Last session at the Statehouse, the NRA-ILA worked to defeat legislation that attacked the state firearms preemption statute. Rhode Island has a firearms preemption law that prohibits local governments from adopting gun control laws which are more restrictive than state law. Firearms preemption statutes are designed to prevent a patchwork of confusing, and sometimes conflicting, laws as residents travel from city to city.
In 2012, Senate Bill 2573 by Senator Harold Metts (D-6), now-former Senator Rhoda Perry (D-3), Senator Juan Pichardo (D-2), Senator Paul Jabour (D-5) and Senator Elizabeth Crowley (D-16) would have given control to regulate firearms and ammunition to local jurisdictions, and it would have included ownership, possession, transportation, carrying, transfer, sale, purchase delay, licensing, registration and taxation. That dangerous legislation was defeated in a Senate committee, but it will be re-introduced again THIS SESSION.
The Rhode Island General Assembly convened for its 2013 session this week. The NRA-ILA is working to defeat any attacks on firearms preemption prohibiting anti-gun municipalities from enacting gun bans like the one Providence has just adopted. Anti-gun forces are moving quickly and your immediate action on this matter is urgently needed. Gun owners should contact their state Senator and Representative IMMEDIATELY and respectfully urge lawmakers to oppose these harmful bans which target law-abiding citizens and do nothing to improve public safety or target criminals.
Contact information for your state legislators can be found by clicking here.
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