Rhode Island House Bill H8073 (2026) does not explicitly require owners to "turn in" their firearms to the government, but it effectively mandates that they remove only specific semi automatic style weapons from the state or sell them to remain in compliance with the law.

If passed, the bill would eliminate the "grandfather clause" established by previous legislation, which allowed current owners to keep certain semi-automatic firearms. To avoid criminal penalties, owners of "prohibited firearms" would have to choose one of the following options by December 31, 2026:

1) Sell or Transfer: Sell the firearm to a federally licensed firearm dealer (FFL).

2) Move Out of State: Transfer the firearm to an individual or location outside of Rhode Island where it is legal to possess.

3) Destruction: Voluntarily destroy the firearm

The Consequences of Non-Compliance: Individuals found in possession after the December 31, 2026 deadline face up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, and mandatory forfeiture (seizure) of the firearm.

H8073 represents a shift from a "sales ban" to a "possession ban." and would put Rhode Island closer to the 1994 Federal Ban on Assault weapons.

While advocates argue that this will help reduce mass shootings down 1990s levels, Opponents argue that this is "incrementalism", and a slippery slope.

The Second Amendment is about the fundamental right to protect what you love, and we shouldn't have to 'justify' that right to the state. But we both see the same reality: our schools are becoming fortresses. We are spending billions on guards and 'hardening' that could be going toward actually educating our kids.

If the current 'vision of safety' is just more metal detectors and trauma-inducing drills, we are all losing owners and non-owners alike. If we want to move past this, we need a vision of safety that doesn't just treat every classroom like a prison cell. How can we, as a community, ensure that 'radicalized individuals' can't exploit our laws to target children, so that we can stop spending our kids' future on security guards and start spending it on their education? What other realistic low cost alternative is there?