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LegislationProposed

2026 Stun Gun Legalization Bills: H7650, H8072, S2395, and H8070

Proposed

2026 Stun Gun Legalization Bills: H7650, H8072, S2395, and H8070

Three bills, H7650, H8072 and S2395, would allow a person 18 or older to purchase a stun gun (H7650 also to possess one, H8072 and S2395 also an electronic dart gun), with criminal penalties for sales to people under 18 and for use in a crime or against a police officer, and a fourth, H8070, concerns college and university students and employees. A separate bill (H8070) would permit any student, professor or other employee of a public or private college or university to carry and possess a stun gun or pepper spray for self-defense.

Legislation
Who: All Rhode Island adults 18+, college students and staff●Reviewed Oct 15, 2026

Multiple bills in the 2026 session would legalize stun gun and electronic dart gun possession for Rhode Island adults, reflecting a bipartisan push to modernize the state's self-defense laws[1].

The Bills

H7650 (Reps. Lima, Fellela, Place, and others) would allow a person 18 or older to purchase or possess a stun gun, and H8072 (Reps. Casey, Chippendale, Hopkins, and others) would allow a person 18 or older to purchase a stun gun or electronic dart gun. Both bills criminalize sales to minors and add enhanced penalties for use in the commission of a crime or against law enforcement officers.

S2395 (Sens. Thompson, Dimitri, Burke, and seven others) is the Senate companion of H8072, allowing a person 18 or older to purchase a stun gun or electronic dart gun, barring sales to people under 18, and creating criminal penalties for use in a crime or against a police officer.

H8070 (Reps. Hopkins, Casimiro, Casey, and others) takes a narrower approach, permitting any student, professor or other employee of a public or private college or university to carry and possess a stun gun or pepper spray for self-defense.

Current Law

RIGL 11-47-42(a)(1) provides that no person shall carry or possess or attempt to use against another a stun-gun. The state is one of a shrinking number that still effectively bans civilian stun gun ownership. Multiple federal court decisions have found stun gun bans unconstitutional under the Second Amendment (see Caetano v. Massachusetts, 2016, which vacated a judgment upholding a stun gun ban without deciding the ban's constitutionality).

Current Status

All four bills were held for further study in committee (H7650, H8070 and H8072 on April 8, S2395 on April 14), and none passed before the House and Senate recessed on June 11, 2026, and neither chamber had met again as of October 15, 2026. Unless the General Assembly reconvenes before its term ends, the bills would need to be reintroduced in a future session. The stun gun restriction in RIGL 11-47-42 remains on the books unchanged, although a federal district court held the ban unconstitutional and unenforceable as applied to stun guns in O'Neil v. Neronha (D.R.I. 2022).

Sources

[1] RI General Assembly, Stun Gun Bills

H7650, H8072, S2395, H8070 (2026 Session)

[2] LegiScan, H7650 Tracking

LegiScan bill tracker for RI H7650 (2026)

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