| Chapter 197 |
| 2025 -- S 0280 Enacted 06/26/2025 |
| A N A C T |
| RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- WEAPONS |
Introduced By: Senators Rogers, Dimitri, Tikoian, LaMountain, de la Cruz, Appollonio, E Morgan, and Paolino |
| Date Introduced: February 13, 2025 |
| It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
| SECTION 1. Sections 11-47-9 and 11-47-35.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 11-47 |
| entitled "Weapons" are hereby amended to read as follows: |
| 11-47-9. Persons exempt from restrictions. |
| (a) The provisions of § 11-47-8 shall not apply to sheriffs; deputy sheriffs; the |
| superintendent and members of the state police; members of the Rhode Island airport police |
| department; members of the Rhode Island state marshals capitol police; Rhode Island state fire |
| marshal; chief deputy state fire marshals; deputy state fire marshals assigned to the bomb squad, |
| and those assigned to the investigation unit; Providence fire department arson investigators, |
| provided that the investigator receiving the permit is a graduate of a police-training academy; |
| correctional officers, chief inspector and inspectors within the office of inspections, within the |
| department of corrections; members of the city or town police force; capitol police investigators of |
| the department of attorney general appointed pursuant to § 42-9-8.1; the witness protection |
| coordinator for the witness protection review board as set forth in chapter 30 of title 12 and subject |
| to the minimum qualifications of § 42-9-8.1; automobile theft investigators of the Rhode Island |
| state police pursuant to § 31-50-1; railroad police while traveling to and from official assignments |
| or while on assignments; conservation officers; or other duly appointed law enforcement officers; |
| nor to members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps of the United States, the National |
| Guard, or organized reserves, when on duty; nor to members of organizations by law authorized to |
| purchase or receive firearms from the United States or this state, provided these members are at, or |
| going to or from, their places of assembly or target practice; nor to officers or employees of the |
| United States authorized by law to carry a concealed firearm; nor to any civilian guard or criminal |
| investigator carrying sidearms or a concealed firearm in the performance of his or her official duties |
| under the authority of the commanding officer of the military establishment in the state of Rhode |
| Island where he or she is employed by the United States; nor to any civilian guard carrying sidearms |
| or a concealed firearm in the performance of his or her official duties under the authority of the |
| adjutant general where he or she is employed guarding a national guard facility, provided, that the |
| commanding officer of the military establishment shall have on file with the attorney general of |
| this state a list of the names and addresses of all civilian guards and criminal investigators so |
| authorized; nor to duly authorized military organizations when on duty; nor to members when at, |
| or going to or from, their customary places of assembly; nor to any individual employed in the |
| capacity of warden, associate warden, major, captain, lieutenant, sergeant, correctional officer or |
| investigator at any project owned or operated by a municipal detention facility corporation, |
| including the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility; nor to the regular and/or ordinary transportation |
| of pistols or revolvers as merchandise; nor to any person while transporting a pistol, or revolvers, |
| unloaded from the place of purchase to their residence, or place of business, from their residence |
| to their place of business or from their place of business to their residence, or to a federal firearms |
| licensee for the purpose of sale, to or from a bona fide gunsmith, or firearms repair facility, to any |
| police station or other location designated as a site of a bona fide “gun buy-back” program, but |
| only if said pistol or revolver is unloaded and any ammunition for said pistol or revolver is not |
| readily or directly accessible from the passenger compartment of such vehicle while transporting |
| same and further provided, that in the case of a vehicle without a compartment separate from the |
| passenger compartment, the firearm or the ammunition shall be stored in a locked container. |
| (b) Persons exempted by the provisions of this section from the provisions of § 11-47-8 |
| shall have the right to carry concealed firearms everywhere within this state; provided, that this |
| shall not be construed as giving the right to carry concealed firearms to a person transporting |
| firearms as merchandise or as household or business goods. |
| 11-47-35.1. Persons exempt from § 11-47-35. |
| The provisions of § 11-47-35 shall not apply to full-time members of the state police, full- |
| time members of the state marshal’s office capitol police, full-time members of city or town police |
| departments, or state marshals capitol police or correctional officers or persons licensed under § |
| 11-47-11. |
| SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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| LC000388 |
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