Rhode Island Gun Control Bills Stall over Coronavirus Concerns

And another one for ‘every cloud has a silver lining’. Not that it’s going to totally stop them.

Wednesday gun control bill hearings for the Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee were cancelled over concerns that a “large crowd” of hearing attendees could contribute to the spread of the Chinese coronavirus.

WPRI reports that Rhode Island’s state’s health director, Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, made a “strong suggestion” the hearings be postponed. In light of the anticipated crowd of citizens, she noted that “the virus can be spread among people [in] close contact — less than six feet apart.”

Alexander-Scott observed, “Cancelling or postponing large events is an important tool to limit the spread in Rhode Island,”

Among the reasons a large crowd was expected at the hearing was the fact that approximately 17 bills dealing with guns were scheduled for consideration.

One of the bills “defines ‘assault weapons’ and bans selling them if they are not registered.” Another bills “defines large-capacity weapons feeding devices and bans them,” too.

Another bill that would have been discussed was designed to prohibit “teachers from being offered an incentive to get firearms licenses,” while yet another would have put new storage requirements and penalties in place for law-abiding gun owners.

The Associated Press reported that the “hearing on gun control measures” will be rescheduled, but provided no time-frame in which the rescheduled hearing might occur.