Last-minute changes to legislation that would ban assault-style weapons up for consideration Wednesday by the Senate Committee on Judiciary are dividing gun safety advocates.
Amended versions of companion bills sponsored by Rep. Jason Knight, a Barrington Democrat, and Sen. Lou DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat, were unveiled by the Senate Tuesday afternoon. Senate leaders hope the changes will help the divided committee advance the legislation to the chamber floor.
“I look forward to casting my vote in favor of this legislation with the hope of making Rhode Island a safer place for all,” Senate President Valarie Lawson said in a statement.
The ban is proposed to take effect in July 2026. Much like in the amended proposal by Knight that cleared the House on June 5, violators would face up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000 and would have to forfeit their assault-style weapons.
But how those weapons are defined has narrowed in scope in the revised legislation emerging Wednesday. Excluded from the reworked legislation are shotguns with detachable magazines, pistol grips and folding stocks, along with most semi-automatic pistols.
The reworked bills also do away with a voluntary weapon certification program, which itself was amended from a mandate that grandfathered weapons be registered with law enforcement.
Removal of the voluntary program was meant to satisfy concerns that such language was akin to an unconstitutional registry, according to a Senate news release. The changes to the bills were based on feedback the Senate Committee on Judiciary received during the panel’s initial hearing for DiPalma’s bill on May 14.
The original legislation sought to restrict the “manufacture, sale, purchase and possession of assault weapons.” But the version the Senate panel will now consider removed the word possession. It would ban the “manufacture, sale, and purchase of prohibited firearms,” in effect allowing someone to purchase a weapon in another state where such sales are legal.
“While some committee members’ sincerely held beliefs make them unlikely to support any version of this legislation, I believe that the majority of the committee members brought their concerns to the table in a good faith effort to improve the legislation before us,” Chairman Matthew LaMountain, a Warwick Democrat, said in a statement.
Diana Garrington, a volunteer with the Rhode Island chapter of Moms Demand Action, called the Senate’s proposals “the best path forward” in getting a ban on assault-style weapons across the finish line.
“Any restriction on these weapons of war is a step in the right direction for the state of Rhode Island,” Garrington said in a statement.
The same can’t be said for Melissa Carden, executive director for the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence, who said she was dismayed by the Senate’s changes.
“Knowing we have a strong assault weapons ban bill that has already passed the House of Representatives, and knowing that the bill has the votes on the Senate floor, we don’t understand how a weakened version of the bill would be acceptable to advocates, lawmakers or partners,” Carden said in a statement.
The Senate’s changes also don’t appear to have appeased some of the ban’s harshest critics.
Senate Republican leaders, who can vote in an ex officio role alongside Republican Judiciary Committee member Thomas Paolino of Lincoln, issued a statement that they still intend to oppose the legislation.
“The amended legislation still goes too far, banning certain shotguns and infringing on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens,” Minority Whip Gordon Rogers, a Foster Republican, said in a statement.
Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz, a North Smithfield Republican, said she was pleased that Lawson and LaMountain opted to allow the proposed firearms ban to be vetted by the Judiciary Committee rather than another committee whose members were more supportive. She was referring to Lawson ruling on June 12 that Sen. Pamela Lauria, a Barrington Democrat, was out of order when she asked to move the proposed ban to the Senate Committee on Finance.
“While I do not support the legislation in any form, I appreciate that the bills, 2025-S 359 and 2025-H5436A, will be voted on by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which heard hours and hours of public testimony,” de la Cruz said. “It unequivocally belongs in Judiciary.”
Glenn Valentine, president of the Rhode Island Second Amendment PAC, said the language still bans most commonly owned firearms. He said in a text message that Senate leaders are trying to rush the bill that will only secure lawmakers a temporary win.
“A victory lap is their priority, not public safety,” Valentine said.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi declined to comment on the Senate’s revisions. He told reporters following the chamber’s passage of the fiscal 2026 budget Wednesday night that he had an informal briefing with Lawson on the amendments, but did not have the chance to review the updates.
“I respect the Senate,” he said.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to meet at 3:15 pm in Room 313 of the State House to vote on a revised version of the legislation.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
