With the cosponsorship of several Senate leaders, Sen. Gayle Goldin has introduced legislation banning high-capacity magazines, meant to prevent mass shootings like the one yesterday that left 17 dead at a Parkland, Fla., high school. The bill is being co-sponsored by Senator Euer (D-Dist. 13, Newport, Middletown) several other senators.
The legislation (2018-S 2319) would ban possession, manufacture, import, purchase, sale or transfer of any ammunition feeding device capable of accepting more than 10 rounds. Under the bill, those who currently own such devices would have 120- days to remove them from the state or surrender them to a gun dealer or police.
“It’s only seven weeks into the year and we’ve already had multiple mass shootings. It’s beyond time Rhode Island takes action. High-capacity magazines turn already powerful guns into weapons whose sole purpose is to incur multiple deaths and injuries as quickly as possible. They are illegal for hunting, and they are unnecessary for protection. They are a tool that enables mass shooters to carry out their heinous acts, leaving countless victims dead every year, and there’s no valid reason to allow their use and sale here in Rhode Island,” said Senator Goldin (D-Dist. 3, Providence), who has introduced the legislation for several years.
“This is a common-sense limit that is meant to prevent mass shootings. The ability to fire many bullets without reloading is one element that enables shooters to keep going. High-capacity magazines are a tool that is creating scores of innocent victims, particularly children in school shootings, and they should not be legal,” said Senate Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin (D-Dist. 1, Providence), a cosponsor on the bill.
“High-capacity magazines enable mass murderers. Of all the gun reforms we should make, this one shouldn’t be that hard. You can’t go duck hunting with more than three bullets in your gun in Rhode Island. Are human lives not worth at least as much?” said Senator Joshua Miller (D-Dist. 28, Cranston, Providence).
Said cosponsor Sen. Cynthia A. Coyne (D-Dist. 32, Barrington, Bristol, East Providence), a former Rhode Island state trooper, “No law-abiding person has a need to rapidly fire off more than 10 rounds without reloading. High-capacity magazines are an open invitation for tragedy, and we shouldn’t wait for one of those tragedies to happen here in Rhode Island before we act.”
Cosponsor Sen. Dawn Euer said, “I understand the need to change hearts and minds on important issues, but how many hearts are going to stop beating before we take meaningful action? Common-sense gun safety measures are supported by the majority of people in our state.”