2025 Assault Weapons Ban Signed Into Law

On June 26, 2025, the Governor signed S 0359A, enacted as Chapter 281 of the 2025 Public Laws^[1]. The Senate passed Substitute A on June 20, 2025, and the House passed it in concurrence the same day. The law took effect on July 1, 2026.

What the Law Does

The assault weapons ban, codified as P.L. 2025, ch. 281, prohibits the manufacture, sale, transfer, and future acquisition of firearms classified as "assault weapons" under the statute. The law defines assault weapons using feature-based tests rather than a blanket ban on semiautomatic firearms. A semiautomatic rifle that accepts a detachable magazine and possesses one or more enumerated features (such as a pistol grip, folding stock, or threaded barrel) is classified as an assault weapon. The enacted law uses no named-firearms list. Semi-automatic shotguns are covered when they have a fixed magazine capacity over six rounds, any shotgun with a revolving cylinder is covered, semi-automatic pistols are covered when they have a fixed magazine capacity over ten rounds, and any semi-automatic firearm that can accept a belt ammunition feeding device is covered. There is no feature test for pistols that accept a detachable magazine, so a threaded barrel on such a pistol does not make it a prohibited firearm. A semi-automatic pistol is covered only when it has a fixed magazine capacity over ten rounds or can accept a belt ammunition feeding device.

Possession

The chapter does not prohibit possession of a prohibited firearm. It prohibits manufacturing, selling, offering to sell, transferring or purchasing one. Existing owners may continue to possess, store, and use these firearms. However, these firearms may not be sold, transferred, or given to another person within Rhode Island after the effective date. Under the enacted law they may be sold or transferred only to a federally licensed dealer or to an individual outside the state who may lawfully possess them. The enacted law contains no registration requirement and no provision requiring surrender or transfer upon the owner's death. Earlier drafts of the bill included registration and surrender provisions, but those were removed before passage.

Legislative History

Rhode Island's large capacity feeding device ban, P.L. 2022, ch. 99, took effect on June 20, 2022, three years before the assault weapons act. Supporters argued the ban was a natural complement to the existing magazine restriction. Opponents argued that the ban targeted commonly owned firearms protected by the Second Amendment under Bruen^[2].

Legal Challenges

As of October 8, 2026, no suit challenging the act appears on the District of Rhode Island docket, and no injunction bars its enforcement. The First Circuit upheld the large capacity magazine ban in Ocean State Tactical.

The ban's constitutional future is likely to be shaped at the Supreme Court. On June 30, 2026, the Court granted certiorari in Grant v. Higgins, No. 25-566, a challenge to Connecticut's assault weapons ban from the Second Circuit, consolidated with Viramontes v. Cook County, No. 25-238, from the Seventh Circuit. The question presented is whether the Second and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee the right to possess AR-15 platform and similar semiautomatic rifles. The consolidated cases are allotted one hour of argument on Wednesday, December 2, 2026^[3].