A letter to the editor,

“Legislators, let’s ban assault weapons,” published April 10, is full of misinformation. Why does that matter? 

Everyone wants the state to be as safe as possible from criminal use of firearms. But that will not happen unless gun control advocates from Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence, like the author of that letter, stop spreading false information. Only when we have honest, factual discussions about the root causes of criminal firearms violence can we improve public safety. 

The Rhode Island Assault Weapons Ban of 2025 (AWB), a bill under consideration in the legislature that the letter writer advocates for, cannot possibly make the public safer. It is based on falsehoods, as her letter clearly shows. 

The writer touts the AWBs in Connecticut and Massachusetts. She either doesn’t know or chooses not to mention the ban in Connecticut has been a disaster. Fewer than 15% of the firearms owners affected have complied with the law. They have refused to turn in or register their banned firearms. In Massachusetts the law has met with considerable public resistance, including multiple lawsuits. Worse, the law created thousands of felons. Why are AWB advocates wasting legislative time and taxpayer money advocating for a law that has clearly failed elsewhere? 

Her letter cites a Brady United statistic that gun massacres decreased 37% during the nationwide assault weapons ban of 1994 to 2004. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) conducted the most respected studies of the ban. It could find no connection between the ban and a decline in mass shootings. Brady United produces antifirearm propaganda. The CDC is an agency of the federal government that is not particularly firearm friendly. Which organization is more likely to produce accurate information? 

In her letter, the writer cites the Violence Policy Archive (VPA) claim that there have been 41 mass shootings in 2025. The VPA is another antifirearm propaganda organization. The Washington Post—hardly pro-firearms—said there have been three mass shootings this year. Again, whom do you believe? 

In their campaign to reduce the public’s access to firearms for self-defense, gun control advocates are knowingly spreading misinformation. They say they want to ban “assault weapons.” Ironically the Rhode Island Assault Weapons Ban of 2025 has absolutely nothing to do with real assault weapons. Those are machine guns that fire continuously as long as the trigger is pressed. They are used by our military. The firearms the proposed Rhode Island AWB makes illegal are not assault weapons. It has been virtually impossible to own them in Rhode Island for 40 years.  

This bill seeks to ban semiautomatic firearms that have certain features. None of these features—like adjustable stock, pistol grip, barrel shroud, foregrip—make these firearms more lethal. They actually make them more easily controlled, thus safer.  

To scare up public support for their AWB, gun control advocates purposely misidentify these firearms as “assault weapons.” If gun control activists have a good case for an AWB, why do they feel the need to lie? 

Gun control advocates never acknowledge the Center for Disease Control’s assertion that between 500,000 and three million times a year law-abiding people legally use firearms for self-defense. That’s far more than criminal use of firearms. 

Passing ineffective feel-good legislation that is based on misinformation and overwrought emotion won’t make Rhode Islanders safer. 

The Rhode Island Assault Weapons Ban of 2025 would make it illegal to buy nearly every type of semiautomatic rifle and a number of shotguns and handguns. These are firearms that have been legal for Rhode Islanders to own for self-defense for more than 100 years. 

Reducing violence involving firearms is a complex problem that requires more and better mental health services and more aggressive prosecution of gun-law violators. Believing that we can reduce violence involving firearms simply by enacting laws that make it difficult for good people to defend themselves is delusional and puts Rhode Islanders at greater risk of harm. 

We need to tell our legislators not to pass a provably ineffective AWB and focus honestly on the real causes of gun violence.  

The names and contact information for your legislators are easily found at the website sos.ri.gov > Elections and Voting > Find Your Elected Officials.  

If we don’t speak up and the AWB becomes law, we will all be less safe. 

Bill Welch 

Portsmouth