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Videos of the March 19th, 2019, House Judiciary Hearing on Gun Bills

3-18-2019 ALERT!!!

Rally at the State House on Tuesday, March 19th, 2019! It's best to park at either the Providence Place Mall or at one of the Department of Health's parking lots if you arrive after 5pm.
You can contact the House Judiciary via the NRA's website here, or send your own email.
The House Judiciary Committee with hold hearings on the entire package of 2019 anti-gun bills on Tuesday March 19th. There will be signup sheets where you can mark your position on the bills as well as identify if you are testifying or not. There will probably be a time limit so please testify only on the bills that are being heard and stay on topic. You will also have the opportunity to submit a written testimony if you choose not to testify. This year’s bills are some of the worst ever in attempting to infringe upon your Second Amendment rights. Here’s just some of what these bills would do:

Ban new "assault weapons" and require existing "assault weapons" to be registered (House Bill 5741).

Ban the sale and possession of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds (House Bill 5739).

Ban adults 18 to 20 years old from purchasing or possessing firearms (House Bill 5172 and 5728).

Outlaw the presence of rifles and shotguns in vehicles, visible or concealed (House Bill 5022).

Ban the possession of firearms within 300 feet of a school even by law-abiding citizens and concealed carry permit holders (House Bill 5762).

Severely restrict home defense by requiring that all firearms — including inoperable receivers — be locked in a safe or otherwise (via a cable lock, etc.) at all times. (House Bill 5740).

WHAT WE NEED YOU TO DO:
SPEAK UP!
You can contact the committee members easily here (NRA link).
You can also contact the House Judiciary Committee members individually here.
SHOW UP TUESDAY!
We’ll be there as early as 3pm and expect to be there until early morning. You can show up whenever time permits BUT PLEASE SHOW UP. We need to fill the Statehouse. Don't let a few dozen of Bloomberg's gun control activists take your rights away! Let's dwarf last year's turnout! Wear your yellow shirts and buttons!
SPREAD THE WORD! Tell your friends and family what is going on. Copy and paste the above and email it to them. Call them. Whatever it takes.

2-24-2019 ALERT!!!

The Fiscal Year 2020 budget will (H5151) will be heard on Thursday February 28th, 2019 (agenda). We need you to contact the House Finance committee and let them know you are opposed to the bill since gun owners are unfairly targeted with extra taxes (ie. another 10% tax on guns and ammo) and bureaucracy. Please write them your own email or use the form below to let them know you are opposed to more taxes on gun owners!
There will also be a RALLY at the State House on Thursday at 4pm and until probably midnight so please come any time you can with your YELLOW shirt. This is the first hearing on guns this session and we need to send a strong message to the legislators that we don't want any anti gun bills passed!

Article 5--Section 1 - FFL dealer's license
Article 5--Section 9 - Taxing Hunting, Trapping, and Shooting Services
Article 5--Section 18 - Tax on Guns and Ammunition

First Name*
Last Name*
Street*
City*
Your Email*
Phone#
Subject*	Please oppose H5151 and any new taxes and regulations on gun owners!
Comments* (feel free to personalize the letter)	Speaker of the House and members of the House Finance Committee, I am writing to express opposition to the broad tax increases being considered in the 2020 budget proposal regarding firearms, ammunition, and their associated businesses/clubs/preserves. These blanket changes and increases should be removed. Most specifically, the targeted proposal of a 10% tax applied to guns and ammunition purchases should be removed from this and all future budget proposals. This tax increase will only strangle local small business owners and discourage an already-robust industry in the State of Rhode Island. Individuals will find the already-expensive costs of enjoying shooting sports to be too high. Furthermore, the right to keep and bear arms should not face specific taxation separate from any other privately owned good. Increasing taxes and operating costs of shooting preserves, gun clubs, and firearms related businesses will do much more harm than good. It is important for legislators to not lose sight of the forest at the cost of a few trees. We should be encouraging small businesses to flourish in Rhode Island, not stifle them, and that is all this tax increase will accomplish.

House Bill No. 5021
BY Diaz, Slater, Tobon, Blazejewski, Maldonado
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- WEAPONS (Criminalizes possession of a firearm by a minor, except when the minor is engaged in certain activities and when accompanied by a parent, guardian, or qualified adult.)
This will severely limit where minors engaged in otherwise lawful activity can possess a firearm. For example, there is no provision for a teenager to take their firearm to a friend's property to hunt or target shoot.

House Bill No. 5022
BY Diaz, Slater, Tobon, Blazejewski, Maldonado
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES - WEAPONS (Makes it unlawful for any person to carry a rifle or shotgun in any vehicle or conveyance or on or about their person whether visible or concealed subject to certain exceptions.)
This bill will severely limit where a long gun can be carried in a vehicle and the exceptions are few (hunting and target shooting). It is even more restricted than for handguns for someone who has a CCW.

House Bill No. 5138
BY O'Brien, Ucci, Amore, Millea, Craven
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION -- MAINTENANCE OF ORDER ON CAMPUS [SEE TITLE 16 CHAPTER 97 - THE RHODE ISLAND BOARD OF EDUCATION ACT] (Mandates arming campus police at public higher educational institutions and would include campus police in the definition of "law enforcement officer" for the purposes of the "Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights.")

House Bill No. 5164
BY Marshall, Costantino, Ucci, Almeida, Shekarchi
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- ESTABLISHING THE "FIREARM SAFETY TRIGGER LOCK DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM" (Creates a firearm safety lock distribution program administered by the department of health.)

House Bill No. 5172
BY Marshall, Shekarchi, Almeida
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES-WEAPONS (Raises the legal age to purchase or sell a rifle or shotgun from 18 years of age to 21 years of age and restricts permits to minors for sporting or training to age 21.)
This bill will severely limit where minors engaged in otherwise lawful activity can possess a firearm. For example, there is no provision for a teenager to take their firearm to a friend's property to hunt or target shoot.

House Bill No. 5230
BY Bennett, Solomon, Edwards, Shanley, Chippendale
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO FISH AND WILDLIFE -- HUNTING AND HUNTING SAFETY (Requires any person who sustains an injury to themselves or causes an injury to another while hunting or trapping to report the injury to the department of environmental management immediately.)
Today only injuries causes by firearms wile hunting, or when trapping, must be reported to the DEM. This bill would change it so that all injuries would have to be reported to the DEM, regardless of the severity of the injury.

House Bill No. 5332
BY Ranglin-Vassell, Donovan, Amore, McEntee, Diaz
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- WEAPONS (Prohibits schools from offering employment incentives or bonuses to teachers on the condition that the teacher either is or becomes licensed to carry a weapon.)
This bill will not make our schools safer.

House Bill No. 5497
BY Filippi, Chippendale, Quattrocchi, Nardone, Place
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES - WEAPONS (Permits the open and concealed carry of weapons by any person in the act of evacuating the area pursuant to an order of the governor or local authority under chapter 15 of title 30.)

House Bill No. 5740
(Attorney General) BY Caldwell, Ackerman, Williams, McEntee, Craven
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- WEAPONS (Requires firearms to be stored securely when not in use and enhances penalties for failure to store firearms in a secure manner.)

House Bill No. 5741
(Governor/Attorney General) BY Caldwell, Almeida, Ruggiero, McEntee, Tanzi
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- WEAPONS (Bans possession, sale and transfer of assault weapons which are not property registered.)

House Bill No. 5752
(Attorney General) BY Johnston
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- WEAPONS (Enhances penalties for failure to report lost or stolen firearms to the police department, and specify penalties for making a false report of lost or stolen firearms.)

House Bill No. 5404
BY Roberts, Quattrocchi, Filippi, Place, Lyle
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION - SALES AND USE TAXES - LIABILITY AND COMPUTATION (Exempts trigger locks and safes designed and manufactured for firearms storage from sales and use taxes.)

House Bill No. 5723
BY Place, Nardone, Price, Roberts, Chippendale
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- WEAPONS (Amends the definition of firearms to include taser. Permits any person over the age of eighteen (18) to possess a stun gun. Enacts the review and appeal process of applying for a license to carry with the licensing authority or attorney general.)

House Bill No. 5728
BY Tanzi, Donovan, Ranglin-Vassell, Ajello, Cassar
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES - WEAPONS (Increases the age from eighteen to twenty-one years for lawful possession, sale, or transfer of firearms or ammunition. Full-time law enforcement, fire marshals and member of U.S. military would be exempt from these prohibitions.)

House Bill No. 5739
(Governor/Attorney General) BY Caldwell, McEntee, Tanzi, Cassar, Kazarian
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- LARGE CAPACITY FEEDING DEVICE BAN (Prohibits sale/possession of feeding device holding more then 10 ammunition rounds punishable by up to $5,000 fine or up to 5 years imprisonment with law enforcement/military personnel exceptions.)

House Bill No. 5747
(Dept. of Corrections) BY Canario, Casey, Johnston, Jackson, Solomon ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- WEAPONS (Includes the chief inspector and inspector as those exempt from carrying a firearm without a permit and would define them as peace officers.)

House Bill No. 5754
(Attorney General) BY Johnston, O'Brien, Canario ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES - WEAPONS (Prohibits obtaining a firearm on behalf of another person if that person is prohibited from possessing a firearm. This act would also increase the penalties for purchases of firearms by use of false information.)

House Bill No. 5762
(Governor/Attorney General) BY Diaz, Slater, Blazejewski, Craven, Mendez ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES - WEAPONS (Prohibits firearms possession within 300 feet of school grounds except for peace officers, retired law enforcement officers, persons providing school security, firearms on private property and unloaded firearms in containers or locked car racks.)

House Bill No. 5767
BY Lima, Casey, Ucci, Solomon, Craven
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- WEAPONS (Authorizes the use of stunguns/tasers after issuance of permit from attorney general.)

House Bill No. 5884
BY Lima, Solomon, Ucci, Corvese, Casey
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- WEAPONS (Makes the possession and ownership of stun guns legal.)