Rhode Island Proposes Ban on Possession after Ban on Sale and Manufacture draft

On June 26, 2025, Governor of Rhode Island (D) Dan McKee signed into law a ban on the manufacture, purchase, sale or transfer of certain firearms. The firearms affected were: semi-automatic shotguns with fixed magazine capacity exceeding six rounds, shotguns with revolving cylinders, and semi-automatic rifles with fixed magazine capacity exceeding ten rounds. In addition the ban covers semi-automatic rifles which can accept a detachable magazine and which have any one or more of the following characteristics:

• folding or telescoping stock
• bayonet mount
• grenade launcher
• shroud which protects the non-trigger hand, except an extension of the stock on the bottom of the barrel
• pistol grip or thumbhole stock
• flash suppressor or threaded barrel which could accept the same

The ban also covers semi-automatic pistols with a fixed magazine capacity exceeding 10 rounds and any semi-automatic firearm which can accept a belt ammunition feeding device.

The ban does not include .22 rimfire rifles with attached tubular magazines.  The ban does not appear to include pistols with detachable magazines or semi-automatic shotguns with detachable magazines.

On February 27, 2026, Democrats in the Senate introduced a bill to add possession to the prohibitions already passed in 2025. This changes the ban on obtaining the affected firearms into a ban on possessing them.

Senate sponsors to add “Possession” are:   Alana M. DiMario, district 36;Dawn Euer, district 13; Meghan E. Kallman, district 15;  Pamela J. Lauria, district 6; Tiara T. Mack, district 6; Mark P. McKenney, district 30; Linda L. Ujifusa, district 11; Bridget Valverde, district 35; and Samuel D. Zurier, district 3.  

The Rhode Island Senate contains 38 senators. 17 are women, 21 are men. Four are Republicans, 34 are Democrats. All of the sponsors of the bill to ban possession are Democrats, seven of the nine sponsors are women. 

Analysis:

Rhode Island is a deep blue state.  As mentioned, on 4 of 38 Senators are Republican. Only 10 of 75 representatives are Republican. The Govenor, Daniel McKee is a Democrat. The legislature already passed the bill banning the manufacture, purchase, sale or transfer of the listed firearms. There are several court cases involving outright bans of these sort of weapons. As many of the listed weapons are in common use in the United States, the Supreme Court is likely to strike down these bans at some point in the future. The Supreme Court has refused to do so at present. It refused to hear the case Snope v. Brown.  It is not clear if the new bill will be passed, as it makes the original law more likely to be seen as unconstitutional. With supermajorities of Democrats in the House and Senate, passage is plausible. The longer the Supreme Court takes to hear an “assault weapons” ban, the more states will thumb their noses at the Supreme Court precedent in the Bruen decision.

In 2022, a federal district court found the banning of stun guns in Rhode Island to be unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.  The judge in the case was William E. Smith.  Judge Smith assumed senior status in 2024. He might or might not be assigned to hear a challenge to the current weapons ban.

 ©2026 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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