Gun bills on fast track to passage

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Bills banning rapid-fire bump stocks and giving police the power to disarm people who show "red flag" signs of potential violence are speeding toward becoming law after passing the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

The legislation, coming in response to gun massacres in Las Vegas and Parkland, Florida, moved quickly and unanimously through the committee Thursday afternoon after drawing hours of impassioned, late-night testimony from opposing gun-rights and gun-control advocates earlier this spring.

The Senate's red-flag language now mirrors what the House passed more than a month ago, including amendments to the original legislation that limit the ability to file red-flag orders to police, raise the burden of proof to keep someone's guns longer than a year and give the subject the right to appeal to get their firearms back.

The full Senate is expected to take the bill up next week. Gov. Gina Raimondo has said she supports it.

"It's pretty fantastic. It means in the wake of Parkland our General Assembly has really stepped up to the responsibility to pass commonsense gun laws to protect Rhode Islanders," said Jennifer Boylan, volunteer legislative leader for the Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense on America, which had rallied support for the bills.

After more than a thousand gun-rights supporters packed the State House at raucous rallies earlier in the year, only a handful were on hand for the committee vote.

The red flag bill "is a little bit better than it was before," said Frank Saccoccio, president of the Rhode Island Second Amendment Coalition, which still opposes the bill. "We oppose the bill because we feel it does not have enough safeguards in it yet. Some of the [red flag] triggering events are — you go to buy a firearm or you go to buy a second firearm. People do that all the time. Why would that trigger a red flag?"

The bill would allow police officers to petition the Superior Court for an "extreme risk protection order" on residents they fear could become violent to themselves or others. If the court finds probable cause, it can grant a search warrant for police to find and seize any firearms belonging to the subject.

A judge would have up to 14 days to hold a hearing on the order and decide whether there is "clear and convincing evidence" of a safety threat to issue a one-year order to disarm.

Other changes to the original bill, now in both the House and Senate versions, include creating a $5,000 fine for anyone who provides false information related to a red flag and adding threatening social media posts to the list of potential evidence someone is dangerous.

The "bump stock" ban would make it illegal to posses devices, like those used in the Las Vegas shooting, that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns.

The Second Amendment Coalition did not oppose the bump stock ban.

Before the vote Thursday, senators described the changes made to the red flag bill as a "compromise" that doesn't infringe on the Second Amendment.

"This is an appropriate balance on an emotionally-charged issue," said Sen. Frank Lombardi, D-Cranston. "Any time we are dealing with someone who is an extreme risk, that is common sense and a no-brainer to me."

The red flag bill passed the House on a 60-8 party line vote with Republicans, including House Minority Leader and candidate for governor Patricia Morgan, saying it didn't provide enough due process for gun owners.

Cranston mayor and GOP candidate for governor Allan Fung has said he opposes the bill because it does not give a large enough role to doctors in deciding who is dangerous.