What do you do if you’re the chief executive of a state and you want to ban so-called “assault weapons,” but you’ve never managed to get the legislature to do your dirty work for you? If you’re the governor of Rhode Island, you try to get such a ban by more backdoor means.
According to an alert from Gun Owners of America (GOA), Rhode Island Democrat Gov. Daniel McKee recently inserted funding for a ban on many common semi-automatic firearms into his recently released FY 2026 budget proposal, causing alarm for Ocean State gun owners.
Along with ownership of such guns, the ban would prohibit the future possession, purchase, sale, control and manufacture of many commonly owned firearms used by lawful Rhode Islanders legally and safely every day.
In his address about the new proposed budget, McKee directly addressed the proposal, even mentioning his failure to get such a law passed through the legislature.
“Year after year I’ve stood here and asked the General Assembly to send an assault weapons ban to my desk,” McKee said. “This year, I’m sending you a budget to the General Assembly for the first time (that) will include a ban on assault weapons. Let’s finally get this done.”
Under the header “Promoting Health and Wellness Across Rhode Island,” McKee’s budget states: “Proposing an assault weapon ban to prohibit the future possession, purchase, sale, control, and manufacture of assault weapons. Additionally, the budget includes a sales tax exemption for gun safety goods, such as lock boxes and safes.”
As GOA pointed out in the alert, states like California, Maryland and New York have passed such laws, with no resulting drop in crime.
“Every single one of these states has implemented an ‘assault weapons’ ban, yet none of them have seen a decrease in violence,” the alert stated. “These bans simply don’t work. Instead, what they accomplish is stripping normal, law-abiding gun owners of their rights and ability to defend themselves while failing to stop violent criminals who defy such bans anyway.”
Also in the alert, GOA said that Gov. McKee’s proposal directly infringes on the Second Amendment right of law-abiding citizens, along with completely defying the critical U.S. Supreme Court rulings in Heller, McDonald and, of course, most recently Bruen.
“Now is the time to send a message to the Assembly and the Governor that your constitutional rights matter,” GOA wrote. “Tell your state legislator and Gov. McKee NO to an ‘assault weapons’ ban.”
