Gov. Dan McKee’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 includes a directive to “prohibit the future possession, purchase, sale, control and manufacture of assault weapons” in Rhode Island, according to a Jan. 16 press release from his office.
The assault weapons ban is the first of its kind to appear in the governor’s budget, McKee said during his State of the State Address last month. The proposed budget will now be reviewed and revised by the General Assembly before it is due to take effect July 1.
This ban is a “proactive stance” that comes after “years of asking the General Assembly” to approve legislation banning assault weapons, wrote Olivia DaRocha, the governor’s press secretary, in an email to The Herald.
State Representative Jason Knight (D-Barrington, Warren), who previously proposed legislation to ban assault weapons, said that placing the ban in the budget creates a “certain kind of pressure (to enact it) that wasn’t there before.”
The ban “has been on the table for years and years and years,” Knight said. “It is time to get it done.”
Caleb Schultz ’26, co-chair of Students Demand Action at Brown — a gun control advocacy group –– felt encouraged by the appearance of an assault weapons ban in McKee’s budget.
The group has been working closely with state legislators to pass an assault weapons ban for years, Schultz wrote in an email to The Herald. But McKee’s current attempt seems “more likely” to be approved than previous tries, he added.
“Nothing’s guaranteed, and we have a lot of work to do,” Schultz added. “But we’re hopeful and excited.”
McKee’s decision to incorporate the assault weapons ban into his budget proposal has also sparked criticism. Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz (R-Burrillville, Glocester, North Smithfield) wrote in an email to The Herald that she “was appalled to hear of the Governor’s plan to include an assault weapons ban in the budget.”
“Legislation is crafted and debated by the General Assembly, senators and representatives, not hidden in the state’s budget,” she added.
McKee’s office did not respond to an additional request for comment about these concerns.
Gun safety advocates also pointed to Senate President Dominick Ruggerio’s (D-North Providence, Providence) recently changed attitude regarding assault weapons as hope for effective change.
Ruggerio has described himself as a “Second Amendment person,” and previously stated that he believes a ban should come from the federal level. But in an interview with the Boston Globe in December 2024, he called this belief his “former position.”
Ruggerio did not respond to The Herald’s request for comment.
Because of this change, gun safety advocates are “very hopeful for this session,” said Melissa Carden, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence and a former 2024 State Senate candidate.
“We know that with the new administration in office, an assault weapons ban is very unlikely to happen on a federal level, so it makes it all that more important that we pass it on a state level,” Carden added.
The White House did not respond to The Herald’s request for comment.
