General Assembly Approves Red Flag Legislation, Bump Stocks Ban
Friday, June 01, 2018
The Rhode Island General Assembly has approved the red flag bill allowing courts to disarm individuals who are thought by law enforcement to represent a threat to themselves or others.
The General Assembly also approved a ban on bump stocks and other rapid-fire gun modifications.
The bills will now go to Governor Gina M. Raimondo, who has planned to sign them in a ceremony tomorrow, Friday, June 1, at 11:30 a.m. on the south steps of the State House.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTGun control legislation is one of the hot political issues in the 2018 election cycle. Raimondo has been criticizing her GOP foes Allan Fung and Patricia Morgan. Raimondo has received numerous campaign donations from the NRA's RI lobbyist Bill Murphy. She refuses to return the donations.
Red Flag Legislation
The first bill, sponsored in the Senate by Senate Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin and in the House by Rep. Dennis Canario, is known as a “red flag” law because it allows police to seek from Superior Court an “extreme risk protective order” that prohibits an individual from possessing firearms, based on threats and other warning signs that the person might commit violence.
“This legislation is a way to stop tragedies before they happen. Of course, someone who has guns and is making serious threats to harm people with them should not be armed. Too often, after a mass shooting, we learn about all the warning signs people saw from the shooter and wonder why they still had guns. But the truth is, there isn’t always a legal means to stop them. Our legislation provides a speedy but fair process to ensure that those who pose a legitimate risk do not remain armed,” said Goodwin
Under the bill, an extreme risk protective order would prohibit an individual from possessing or purchasing guns, would require them to surrender guns in their possession and would invalidate any concealed carry permits they have.
The order would be reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and all state and federal lists used for determining whether those seeking to purchase guns have been prohibited from doing so. Violating such an order would be a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The order would be in place for one year, but could be renewed by the court. Those subject to one could also petition once per year to have them lifted.
Ban of Bump Stocks
The other bill, sponsored by Rep. Robert Craven and Sen. James Seveney, would ban bump stocks, binary triggers and trigger cranks on semi-automatic weapons.
“With the tragic and horrific event in Las Vegas demonstrating the powerful lethality that bump stocks can facilitate, we must make the law clear that Rhode Island will not tolerate these dangerous tools of death. Currently, there is some ambiguity as to whether or not applying a bump stock to one’s weapon is legal in Rhode Island, but it is still legal to purchase one. This bill will end that practice, making the sale and possession of bump stocks, even if they are not affixed to a weapon, illegal and punishable by the full extent of the law,” said Craven.
A bump stock is an attachment that allows the shooter to fire a semi-automatic weapon with great rapidity. It replaces a rifle’s standard stock, freeing the weapon to slide back and forth rapidly, harnessing the energy from the kickback shooters feel when the weapon fires.
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