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6/5/2025
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House approves assault weapons ban
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 STATE HOUSE – The House of Representatives voted 43-28 today in favor of legislation sponsored by Rep. Jason Knight to ban assault weapons in Rhode Island. The legislation now moves to the Senate.
“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. 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,” said Representative Knight (D-Dist. 67, Barrington, Warren). “I am grateful to the many people who, year after year, have worked hard and shown up to advocate for this bill, which has evolved through study, collaboration and listening over all that time. I thank the many representatives who stood up today for the safety of all Rhode Islanders. I urge our colleagues the Senate to pass this bill and make this the year we take action to end the proliferation of powerful weapons that enable mass shooters to kill as many victims as possible.”
The legislation (2025-H 5436A) would prohibit the manufacture, purchase, sale, transfer and possession of certain assault weapons including certain types of semi-automatic shotguns, rifles and pistols, and would levy criminal penalties for anyone convicted of violating the ban. Exemptions are provided for current and retired law enforcement officers, active-duty members of the armed forces, National Guard or reserves, federally licensed firearm dealers and individuals who lawfully possess an assault weapon when the ban takes effect on July 1, 2026.
The bill was amended by the House Judiciary Committee to include more precise definitions of the weapons that would be prohibited. The amendment also eliminated a requirement that owners of grandfathered weapons register them with local or state police. Instead, it creates a voluntary program through which those who already own assault weapons could get a certificate of possession from their local police department that would serve as legally admissible proof that their weapon is grandfathered. To assuage concerns that such certificates would serve as a de facto registry, the amendment’s language prohibits police from keeping any record of the application or granting of such certificates.
Since the certificate program would be voluntary, grandfathered owners could legally opt to do nothing when the bill takes effect.
Grandfathered owners would be subject to limitations on where they could possess the weapons. Allowable places would include their home, business or other property they own, licensed gun ranges and shooting clubs, sanctioned gun expos and similar events, and while transporting the weapon to and from such places or to a licensed gun dealer.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where Sen. Louis P. DiPalma (D-Dist. 12, Middletown, Little Compton, Tiverton, Newport) is sponsoring its Senate companion (2025-S 0359).
The legislation was cosponsored by 40 members of the House and is supported by all five of the state’s general officers as well as numerous groups that work to end gun violence. Polls continue to show a majority of Rhode Islanders are in favor of banning assault weapons.
Legislation to more strongly regulate assault weapons is the last remaining unaddressed major legislative recommendation of a gun-safety working group established by former governor Gina M. Raimondo following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in 2018. The federal assault weapons ban expired in 2004 and has yet to be reauthorized by Congress. Currently, 10 states have statutes that ban certain assault weapons.
Over the past several years, the General Assembly has passed several key pieces of gun safety legislation into law including bills to ban large-capacity gun magazines, require the safe storage of firearms, raise the legal age to purchase firearms or ammunition from 18 to 21, and prohibit the open carry of any loaded rifle or shotgun in public.
Representative Knight, who has been sponsoring or cosponsoring versions of this bill since 2018, has cosponsored or sponsored most of the major firearms safety bills enacted during his time in the House. He was the sponsor of the law passed in 2021 to ban “straw purchases,” the buying or procuring weapons on behalf of someone who is legally prohibited from possessing them. He cosponsored the law prohibiting large-capacity gun magazines, as well as laws requiring safe storage of firearms, banning bump stocks and modifications to make semi-automatic weapons work like fully automatic weapons, and ensuring gun sales applications are reviewed by the police in the purchaser’s own community.
For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923
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