An assault weapon ban bill is at the Statehouse. Why the Newport City Council supports it

NEWPORT — The City Council took a stand in favor of a proposed assault weapon ban making its way through the Rhode Island General Assembly this year.

“The lack of gun safety regulations at both the state and federal level, it just doesn’t cease to amaze me,” Councilor Jeanne-Marie Napolitano said at the City Council meeting Wednesday night. “I just wanted to say I’ve listened to the news reports of the last week about the shooting at Michigan State University and my heart was heavy, but I’m tired of the thoughts and prayers. It’s time for action by councils, by state legislators, our Congress in Washington, to adopt common sense gun laws.”

Napolitano’s resolution, co-sponsored by Councillor Lynn Underwood Ceglie, calls for City Council support of House Bill 5300 which would ban the manufacture, sale and possession of assault weapons throughout the state. The resolution was passed unanimously.

What does the legislation do?

While the bill would prohibit the manufacture, sale or possession of assault weapons in Rhode Island should it pass, those who legally obtained an assault weapon before the law goes into effect would be exempt from punishment if they register the weapon with the local police department, render the weapon inoperable, forfeits the weapon to their local police department, or transfers or sells the weapon to a federally licensed firearm dealer or other person legally allowed to have the weapon. There are also exemptions for police, active military, and certain firearms dealers.

Newport traffic:Newport City Council approves increased traffic enforcement resolution. What to expect.

The legislation lists several types of guns which it characterizes as assault weapons, including semi-automatic shotguns, rifles, pistols with fixed magazines exceeding a certain number of rounds (six for shotguns and 10 for rifles) or the ability to accept detachable magazines. The bill also identifies semi-automatic rifles with folding or telescoping stocks, pistol grips that protrude conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon, bayonet mounts, flash suppressors or threaded barrels designed to accommodate flash suppressors or grenade launchers as an assault weapon.

Why does Newport City Council support it?

There have been 85 mass shootings in the United States to-date, according to Gun Violence Archive, the deadliest of the most recent shootings being the Michigan State University shooting which killed four and injured five. On Wednesday, just hours before the City Council would convene for its regular session, another mass shooting in Pine Hills, Florida, would claim three lives and injure two others. The perpetrators behind the two deadliest shootings in 2023 so far, the Monterey Park shooting and the Half Moon Bay shooting, both used semi-automatic weapons in their attacks.

“There’s nowhere we feel safe,” Napolitano said. “Not in church, grocery stores, arenas, night clubs, receptions, rallies, shopping malls, in small towns and in large cities. I ask: whose rights do you feel should be violated?”

Dining in Newport:Lower Thames Street food scene has changed since 2020. A look at what's come and gone

Although Carlin expressed support of the resolution, he questioned whether the Supreme Court had weighed in on the constitutionality of a state’s ability to ban assault weapons. City Solicitor Christopher Behan said it depends on the specific state legislation and the way it defines the weapons it seeks to ban.

“You do have the second amendment, but the Supreme Court has recognized, as has our Supreme Court in Rhode Island, that there are certain reasonable controls that can be placed on that,” Behan said. “You’re talking about a house bill that has not been challenged yet. It may be, there were recent challenges to legislation that was enacted but I have to just tell you it’s all over the place. It’s wholly dependent on what is being proposed as a regulation.”

Napolitano argued that other states have passed similar legislation, a list which includes both Connecticut and Massachusetts and while there have been arguments against some of these bans, she believes the state should at least take this first step.

“Someone has to do something,” Napolitano said. “I’m tired of kids being killed. I’m tired of watching people, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, watching their loved ones taken away. This has to start with us. There has to be a grassroots effort to end this kind of violence.”

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: RI assault weapon ban bill gets support from Newport City Council