Trio of Gun Control Bills Signed by Rhode Island Gov. McKee

Firearms Policy Coalition issued the following statement in response to Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee’s signing of three gun-control bills:

Last week the Rhode Island legislature passed several pieces of anti-rights legislation over a wave of objections by the people. Those bills ban standard capacity magazines (House Bill 6614), a discriminatory law–the type of which we’ve defeated before–prohibiting adults under the age of 21 from purchasing and possessing firearms and ammunition (House Bill 7457) and ban the open carrying of loaded long guns in many public places (House Bill 7358). Today, Gov. McKee signed these measures into law with fanfare, celebrating the abrogation of the natural rights of his constituents.

Governor McKee has spectacularly failed the people of Rhode Island. These draconian measures run roughshod over the most fundamental rights of the people. By denying Rhode Islanders standard magazines–which became standard because of their immense utility in defending and preserving human life–restricting the ability to bear arms, and wholesale eliminating the rights of legal adults, these laws do nothing but make clear the naked contempt the government of Rhode Island has for the security and well-being of its people.

FPC will not stand idly by while the state threatens peaceable conduct with imprisonment, injury, and death. McKee, and those of his ilk, need to be reminded that the fundamental, inalienable rights of the people are unaffected by the stroke of a pen. FPC will be investigating all available options to remedy this injustice against the peaceable people of the state.