In the first six weeks of the 2020 Legislative Session, both chambers of the Rhode Island General Assembly passed bills which outlaw 3-D-printed guns and other untraceable or undetectable firearms, better known as ‘ghost guns.’ With supporters including Governor Gina Raimondo and Attorney General Peter Neronha P’22, advocates hope that the bill’s legislative progress will become part of broader efforts toward gun control legislation in Rhode Island.
“Ghost gun legislation is important because (it would) make it illegal for folks to circumvent the normal licensing and regulation around buying guns,” said Katherine Kerwin, Providence councilwoman and director of communications for the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence. Ghost guns are particularly dangerous because of their ability to slip through metal detectors due to their plastic hardware and their lack of serial numbers, Kerwin added.
The Senate passed the legislation Jan. 29, with a vote of 34-3. The House passed a similar bill Feb. 13, with a 60-6 vote, on the same day as the “Valentines Not Gun Violence” rally organized by Thoughts Prayers Action, a University gun violence prevention group, The Herald previously reported.
If signed into law by Gov. Raimondo, the legislation would prohibit the manufacture, importation, sale, shipment, delivery or transfer of any ghost gun or 3-D printed firearm that could elude metal detectors.
“No matter what you think about the Second Amendment, no matter what side of the issue people typically fall on, it seems really obvious that you shouldn’t be able to manufacture a weapon without a serial number,” said Gabe Mernoff ’22, co-director of the University’s chapter of Thoughts Prayers Action.
“It’s not going to be the easiest thing to enforce; it’s going to be hard to prevent people from 3-D printing, with private 3-D printers,” Mernoff said. But he added that “It’s important to at least set a standard.”
Representative David Place (R - Burrillville, Glocester) is among those who do not support the ghost gun legislation. “I don’t believe the bill actually accomplishes anything,” Place said. “Federal law already makes these types of firearms illegal. The only thing we did by passing this legislation was give our criminal justice, our prosecutors and our law enforcement another tool to over-prosecute anybody.”
Similar ghost gun-banning legislation was introduced last year, but did not get a vote. “Generally, the House and the Senate, particularly the House, are not super in favor of any gun violence prevention policy,” Kerwin said. “And so they’re not really inclined to pass gun violence prevention bills, even low-hanging fruit ones, which the ghost gun ban is considered” to be, she said.
Supporters of the bill hope that this year will be different, with many optimistic that banning ghost guns will be among a host of common sense gun legislation passed by the General Assembly this session. Other gun control legislation that has recently been introduced includes a bill which would increase regulation of high-capacity magazines and the banning of assault weapons.
“We … should be passing some common sense legislation that will help prevent gun injuries and deaths,” said Representative Rebecca Kislak (D - Providence), who voted in support of the passage of the House bill. “I think that it’s generally important to treat gun violence and gun injuries and deaths as a public health problem, because they are.”
