FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, June 7, 2022
CONTACT: Sydney Montstream-Quas, RICAGV Board Chair, sydney@ricagv.org

The Rhode Island House Committee on the Judiciary and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary have scheduled three critical gun-safety bills for consideration. The House Judiciary will vote on Thursday, June 9 at 3:00 p.m. and the Senate Judiciary will vote on Tuesday, June 14 at 3:30 p.m. House Bill No. 6614 and Senate Bill No. 2653 will limit the capacity of firearm magazines to ten (10) rounds. House Bill No. 7358 and Senate Bill No. 2825 will make it unlawful to possess a loaded rifle or shotgun in public. House Bill No. 7457 and Senate Bill No. 2637 will increase the age from eighteen (18) to twenty-one (21) years for the lawful sale of firearms or ammunition. RICAGV supports these bills and has been fighting for their passage.

RICAGV Board Chair Sydney Montstream-Quas says, “We are very grateful to Senate President Ruggerio, Speaker of the House Shekarchi, Senate Judiciary Chair Coyne, and House Judiciary Chair Craven for bringing these lifesaving bills to a vote, which we are confident have the votes to pass both the Judiciary Committees, the House, and the Senate. The status quo of gun violence is not tolerable for our children, our families, or our communities. As the United States is undergoing a wave of mass shootings, Rhode Island leadership has decided enough is enough and is taking the steps necessary to make the tragedies we recently saw unfold in Buffalo and Uvalde less likely here in Rhode Island.”

The passage of The Large Capacity Feeding Device Ban of 2022, which will limit the capacity of firearm magazines to ten rounds, is the culmination of many years of hard work for RICAGV, our partners, and our volunteers. One of RICAGV’s first proposals, when it was formed by concerned citizens in 2013, was to limit magazine capacity to ten rounds. We are very grateful to all the legislators, community partners, and supporters who have fought so hard for so long to pass this critical, life-saving piece of legislation. The ten-round limit will bring Rhode Island into line with its neighboring states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York and will make the whole region safer.

We wish to thank Senators Coyne, Goodwin, and McCaffrey, as well as Representatives Caldwell, Felix, and Tanzi for sponsoring the legislation.

We also wish to thank Senators Miller, DiPalma, Felag, Quezada, Seveney, Euer, Lawson, DiMario, Lawson, Cano, Kallman, Murray, and Zurier as well as Representatives Knight, Blazejewski, Kazarian, McNamara, Ajello, McEntee, Williams, Alzate, Morales, Potter, Casimiro, Cassar, Shanley, Ranglin-Vassell, McGaw, Donovan, Giraldo, Kislak for serving as listed co-sponsors.

We are very grateful to the key organizations who partnered with us in the Campaign for Gun Violence Prevention, Rhode Island, to ensure that every organization with a stake in this outcome was working from the same playbook. Coalition building is hard work, but real progress is not possible without it. Thank you CGVPRI partners: Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America- RI Chapter, Everytown for Gun Safety, Giffords Law Center, Nonviolence Institute, Guns to Plowshares, Thoughts- Prayers- Actions, One Gun Gone, RI Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National Organization for Women, RI Chapter, League of Women Voters of Rhode Island, Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, First Unitarian Church of Providence, College Democrats of Rhode Island, #300 Women, RI American College of Physicians (RI ACP), Bally Humanufactured, Bishops Against Gun Violence, City Kitty Veterinary Care for Cats, Community Care Alliance, East Bay Citizens for Peace, Members of The Faculty of the School of Social Work at Rhode Island College, NAACP, Providence, National Association of Social Workers- RI Chapter, National Council of Jewish Women- Rhode Island, Newtown Action Alliance, Pawtucket Advocates for Racial and Social Justice, Providence Community Health Centers, RI Council of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, RI Medical Society, RI State Council of Churches, Sakonnet Peace Alliance, States United to Prevent Gun Violence, Stop Handgun Violence, The Esscence T. Christal Memorial Foundation, The Womxn Project, Providence Presbyterian Church, RI Democratic Women’s Caucus, The RI Black Business Association, United Way of Rhode Island.

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