Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Every time a state pushes an “assault weapon” or magazine ban, lawmakers repeat the same line: “We’re not coming for your guns.” They say it only bans future sales. They promise current owners can keep what they legally bought. They call it “grandfathering.”
Until they don’t.
According to Washington Gun Law President William Kirk, that exact scenario is now playing out in Rhode Island with House Bill 8073. The state already passed an assault weapon ban a few years ago. But it only prohibited the manufacture, sale, transfer, or purchase of certain firearms. Possession was left untouched. That was the political sell.
Now?
Lawmakers are attempting to amend the existing statute by adding a single word: “possess.”
That’s it. One word.
The current law reads: “No person shall manufacture, sell, offer to sell, transfer, or purchase a prohibited firearm…”
HB 8073 would revise it to read: “No person shall manufacture, sell, offer to sell, transfer, possess, or purchase a prohibited firearm…”
That one addition would eliminate the grandfather clause and instantly criminalize possession of firearms that were previously legal to own.
If passed, the bill would take effect July 1, with a compliance deadline of December 31, 2026. By then, affected gun owners would have to sell, transfer out of state, surrender, or destroy their lawfully acquired firearms.
The only exemptions? Military and law enforcement.
Kirk points out that this is exactly what many Second Amendment advocates warned about when the original ban passed. Grandfathering provisions are not permanent protections. They exist only until the next legislative session.
He also notes the timing. Just last year, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Ocean State Tactical v. Rhode Island, a case challenging the state’s gun restrictions. Critics warned that denial would embolden states to go further.
Now Rhode Island appears ready to do just that.
For gun owners in the Ocean State, the message is blunt: what was once sold as a limited commercial restriction may soon become a full possession ban. And for gun owners nationwide, it’s a reminder that when lawmakers say, “We’re not coming for your guns,” the fine print matters. Because sometimes all it takes is one word.
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