Push for new gun control laws in R.I. faces challenges
A renewed push to ban semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity magazines in Rhode Island is facing difficult political hurdles in Rhode Island’s General Assembly, the same obstacles that derailed the legislation last year. Prospects for the legislation dimmed again last week when House lawmakers chose Nicholas Mattiello, a gun rights supporter who wins high marks from the National Rifle Association, as their new speaker, according to its backers. The bills were first introduced last year after the 2012 school shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six educators in Newtown, Conn. Despite support from top lawmakers like former speaker Gordon Fox, the bills never got a vote following vocal opposition from gun rights supporters.
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