The votes are there to pass these bills. We just need to get the bills on the floor and have a vote. These bills have been bottled up for years, and keeping them bottled up is bad for Rhode Island.”

Rep. Jason Knight

We’re all at risk for this type of carnage happening in our communities … I have to look forward and say, ‘how can we prevent this’?”

Sydney Montstream-Quas

The ‘Gun Laws’ bills at a glance

Advocates have been trying for years to amend current Rhode Island gun laws and pass new gun laws, with emphasis on banning the sale of assault-style weapons, raising the minimum age for the sale of rifles, banning high-capacity magazines and making it illegal to carry loaded weapons in public. None of the bills cited below has yet moved out of committee for a vote by the General Assembly. Advocates still hope to see legislators act in the 2022 session.

Below is a summary of five bills they continue advocating for:

Raise the minimum age to 21

House Bill 7457; Senate Bill 2637: Would raise the age to purchase long guns and ammunition to 21. This would amend an existing law which already restricts the sale of hand guns to those 21 or older. Official summary: “This act would increase the age from eighteen (18) to twenty-one (21) years for lawful sale of firearms or ammunition. Full-time law enforcement, state marshals and members of the U.S. military would be exempt from these prohibitions.”

Assault weapons ban

House Bill 6615; Senate Bill 2224: Would ban the sale and possession of assault-style weapons. This would not apply to people who already own assault weapons, but it would require assault weapons owners to register them within the next year. Official summary: “This act would ban the possession, sale, and transfer of assault weapons. Possession of assault weapons owned on the effective date of this act would be “grandfathered” subject to certain registration provisions. Violations are punishable by a fine of up to $10,000) or up to 10 years imprisonment.”

Limit magazine capacities

House Bill 6614; Senate Bill 2653: Would limit magazine capacity to ten rounds. Official summary: “This act would make it a felony for an individual to possess any semi-automatic firearm magazine which is capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Anyone currently in possession of such a weapon would be grandfathered in, subject to registration within 180 days of passage of the new law.”

Loaded long guns in public

House Bill 7358; Senate Bill 2825: Would make it unlawful to carry a loaded long gun in public. Official summary: “This act would define rifle and shotgun as weapons and make it unlawful to possess a loaded rifle or shotgun in public, subject to various exceptions, inclusive of hunting.”

Safe storage of firearms

House Bill 7300; Senate Bill 2734: This amends a current law which focuses solely on leaving weapons unsecured around children; this would apply to all weapons at all times. Official summary: “This act would make it a violation for the owner of any firearm to store or leave the firearm unsecured. Failure to store the firearm properly would subject the owner to a fine of not more than $3,000. Additionally, if the owner of a firearm fails to store or leaves a firearm unsecured in a place where they reasonably know a child can likely gain access and it results in an injury or death to a child, the owner would be guilty of a felony.”

There are many ways to absorb and process news of a lone gunman slaughtering 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. Images of the smiling, mostly 10-year-olds and their teachers evoke sorrow, terror, devastation and more.

For Sydney Montstream-Quas and many others, the rampage 2,100 miles away in southwest Texas unleashed yet another call for action in the face of gut-wrenching tragedy. Montstream-Quas is chair of the board of directors of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence. Within 24 hours of the news breaking in Uvalde, and a little more than a week after another lone gunman executed 10 people in a racist rampage in Buffalo, N.Y., the coalition renewed its calls for tougher gun laws in Rhode Island.

In a written statement, they wrote: “Stricter gun laws cannot guarantee our children’s safety, but they can reduce the risk of mass shootings. These latest massacres follow a familiar pattern. The Buffalo and Uvalde shootings were both perpetrated by 18-year-old men using military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”

In an interview the next day, Montstream-Quas balanced her personal feelings about the slaughter in Uvalde, with logical, thoughtful analysis of how Rhode Island’s gun laws might change.

“It’s heartbreaking, it’s devastating, it’s horrifying, and it’s terrifying. When you hear about situations like this, it’s terrifying for everybody. We’re all at risk for this type of carnage happening in our communities,” she said. “And then you step away and think of these children, and it’s really difficult to go there, and think about the horror of the situation, and think about the utter despair for those families … I have to look forward and say, ‘how can we prevent this’?”

Five bills in committee

Since organizing almost 10 years ago, the coalition, working with other gun law advocates and supportive legislators, have helped pass or amend five gun laws. They have five more in their sights, most of which have stalled in the General Assembly for years.

One would raise the minimum age for purchasing long guns and ammunition to age 21. Though the age limit is currently 21 for hand guns, it is 18 for rifles. “We know that someone’s brain development is different at age 18 than it is at 21. That is one of the bills we’re pushing for,” Montstream-Quas said.

Another would end the sale of high-capacity magazines, limiting the hardware to devices that can carry up to 10 rounds at a time. “Multiple states have that limitation now,” Montstream-Quas said. “Some set it at 15, but most are at 10. Connecticut and Massachusetts both have that limitation, but we have no limitation. So if someone from Connecticut or Massachusetts wants more magazines, they can come here and buy them and go back home.”

Another bill would make it illegal to carry a loaded long gun in public (excluding hunting). Montstream-Quas said that when they testified in favor of that bill back in March, others testifying in favor of the change pointed out that when police get a call about someone seen walking with a gun, they send everyone they can to investigate, just to be on the safe side — but they actually have no enforcement authority. They cannot stop someone who is walking with a loaded rifle, assault-style or otherwise.

“The other aspect here is when people show up at public events with a loaded gun and try to suppress speech and intimidate people — for example, white supremacists at a rally,” Montstream-Quas said. “Those situations can potentially lead to violence.”

A fourth would require gun owners to secure all weapons in all situations. Currently, the law requires “safe storage” only in situations where children are present. This would extend the law to any household, regardless of the ages of those present.

The big one is the drive for an assault-weapons ban in Rhode Island. Massachusetts has such a law. Rhode Island does not. The bill defines what an “assault-style” rifle is, and would outlaw both their sale and possession. It would allow current owners to be grandfathered in, subject to registration of their weapons.

“These are bills that would help protect our families, our neighbors, our communities. These are important bills that will make a difference,” Montstream-Quas said.

The passionate gun law advocate believes most gun owners are law-abiding citizens who want to, and do, follow the laws. Yet she says the statistics are irrefutable. “We know that states with stronger gun laws, have less gun violence,” she said.

Lobbying for change

Montstream-Quas and fellow advocates are hopeful something will change soon at the Rhode Island General Assembly. Asked whether Uvalde, Texas, might lead to actions in Providence, she said: “I hope so. If legislators were silent, or if they oppose these bills, they are accepting the status quo. We’re all aware of the status quo, and it is horrifying. We’re hopeful there will be action.”

One of those legislators who has not been silent, and who is firmly in favor of taking action, is Rep. Jason Knight, of Barrington and Warren. Knight is a co-sponsor of many of the gun law bills and has supported the gun law lobbyists for years. He is also a skeptic when it comes to changing the minds of pro-gun, Second Amendment defenders.

“It is not a question of winning over the opposition,” he said. “They are set in their ways. There is no amount of carnage, or terror, that can occur in the United States that will lead them to change their ways.”

He also does not believe they are in the majority, they are just in the way. “The votes are there to pass these bills,” Knight said. “We just need to get the bills on the floor and have a vote. These bills have been bottled up for years, and keeping them bottled up is bad for Rhode Island. It erodes confidence in voters.”

Asked about why they are bottled up, he talked about the staunch opposition of some, but also about how the sausage gets made in the Statehouse. “The Speaker of the House controls the flow of legislation. If he wants it to flow, it flows. If he doesn’t want it to flow, it doesn’t.”

A public health crisis

Knight likens gun violence to a public health crisis like others America has faced: drunk driving, smoking, etc. “It needs to be tackled like a public health problem,” he said. “There’s no one solution that is going to cure this problem, but we can absolutely take steps to reduce the risk … We want to do everything in our power to prevent this scourge from coming to Rhode Island. If Uvalde had happened in Rhode Island, I guarantee you I’d be on the House Floor passing those bills right now.”

Montstream-Quas had a similar message: “We know how to at least decrease the carnage. We know how to make positive changes. It doesn’t mean we have to make every change today, but we can make changes one step at a time.”

To the opposition in the General Assembly she said, “As a family survivor of gun violence, I have to say that sometimes what these legislators say is quite insulting. They don’t understand how gun violence shatters families, shatters churches, shatters work places … We are imploring you to put these bills up for a vote. Let the legislators decide. Give them an opportunity to vote on these bills … We have 43 and 44 reps signed on to the high-capacity magazine and assault-weapons regulation bills. The majority of legislators have put their names on it. We’re pretty confident those bills would pass — if they could make it to the House floor.”