Rhode Island Bill Could Turn Gun Owners Into Criminals for Keeping the Firearms They Legally Bought

Two new bills introduced in the Rhode Island legislature are taking aim at legal gun owners, and one of them could easily turn lawful gun owners into criminals overnight, simply for maintaining possession of the firearms they legally purchased. 

Each of these bills, by themselves, represent a major infringement on the right to keep and bear arms, but taken together they pose an existential threat to the Second Amendment rights of Rhode Island residents. 

Who would have guessed that a sales ban would turn into a possession ban?

Everyone.

The Rhode Island House has introduced H8073, an update to last year’s bill that banned the sale of so-called “assault weapons” but included a grandfather clause for current owners. Now, just a… pic.twitter.com/b7ItnYyQPw

— National Association for Gun Rights (@gunrights) March 2, 2026

Any gun or magazine ban that allows existing owners to maintain possession of their arms can be amended in the future to remove those protections, and that's exactly what H8073 does with so-called assault weapons. The state's ban on the sale and transfer of modern sporting rifles, which was only adopted a year ago, would be expanded to prohibit the possession of those arms beginning July 1 of this year. Simply keeping the gun you lawfully purchased could result in a ten-year prison sentence and/or a fine of up to $10,000.

Then there's H7755, which would expand the state's "Responsible Firearm Purchasing Act." Under the current law, anyone purchasing a handgun must provide the seller with a valid "training certificate" issued by the Rhode Island Attorney General, and after the sale has been approved they're subjected to a 7-day waiting period before they can take possession of their handgun. 

H7755 would expand that requirement (and waiting period) to all gun sales in the state. In order to simply purchase a gun to keep in the home you'd have to take an 8-hour training course complete with a live-fire requirement, and then pass a written test developed by the Attorney General's office. 

🚨 You must pass this test to keep the guns you already have?!

Rhode Island House Bill H7755 would add new hoops to exercise your constitutional right!

Here’s why it matters:

✅ What it does:
• Expands the scope beyond handguns to include rifles + shotguns.
• Adds a 7-day… pic.twitter.com/3henAn4iQz

— USCCA (@USCCA) March 5, 2026

Under H7755's current language, existing gun owners are not required to obtain a "firearm training certificate" to maintain possession of any guns they already own, but any additional purchase would require a valid certificate. 

Given the proposed changes to the state's "assault weapon" ban, though, it's not hard to imagine what the next modification of the "Responsible Firearm Purchasing Act" would be; renaming it the "Responsible Firearm Ownership Act" and mandating all gun owners get a certificate if they want to legally keep ahold of the guns that are already in their collection. 

Violent criminals aren't going to pay any attention to these laws, and I suspect most Democrat lawmakers are well aware of that fact. This isn't about curbing violent crime. It's about reducing the number of legal gun owners in the state by making the exercise of our Second Amendment rights more expensive, more time-consuming, and more legally dangerous. 

Both bills have been assigned to the House Judiciary committee and have already drawn multiple co-sponsors. So far neither H8073 or H7755 have been scheduled for a hearing, but gun owners in the state shouldn't wait for that to happen before contacting their state representatives to voice their objection to these blatant infringements on a fundamental right. 

Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to lie about gun owners and the Second Amendment. 

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