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S 2306Non-Violent Crime Penalties

Criminal Offenses - Weapons

This bill allows the possession and use of silencers on long guns and permits their use for hunting.

Held for study
Population
Affected
15
Email Legislator
Introduced Jan 23, 2026Committee Senate Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This legislation amends state weapons laws to legalize the manufacture, sale, and purchase of firearm silencers. It specifically modifies the ban on possessing or using silencers to apply only to firearms with an overall length of less than seventeen inches, effectively allowing them for long guns. Furthermore, the bill updates hunting regulations to permit licensed individuals to use suppressors while hunting with authorized rifles or shotguns. It also includes a provision preventing local municipalities from enacting rules that mandate the use of such devices.

For younger readers

This new law changes the rules about "silencers," which are parts attached to guns to make them quieter. Before this law, people were not allowed to make, sell, or own them. Now, people can have them, but only for long guns like rifles used for hunting. They are still not allowed on short guns like handguns. The law says that hunters can choose to use these devices if they want to. It also says that towns cannot make rules forcing hunters to use them.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
HuntersFirearm DealersGun OwnersLaw EnforcementResidents near hunting areas
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
Amount unknown

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Reduces noise pollution in rural communities and areas surrounding hunting grounds, potentially improving the quality of life for residents.
  • Protects the hearing health of individuals engaged in hunting by dampening the sound of high-decibel firearms.
  • Maintains a prohibition on silencers for firearms under seventeen inches in length, keeping them illegal on concealable weapons often associated with urban crime.
  • Increases the circulation and availability of firearm accessories that suppress sound, which some argue could pose a risk to public safety.
  • May make it more difficult for the public or law enforcement to identify the location of active shooters or illegal hunting activity due to reduced gunshot noise.
  • Represents a deregulation of firearm accessories, which conflicts with general progressive goals of stricter gun control measures.
For Conservatives
  • Restores Second Amendment rights by removing state-level prohibitions on the purchase and possession of firearm accessories common in other states.
  • Protects the hearing of hunters and sport shooters, preserving personal health without government interference.
  • Includes a preemption clause that prevents local governments from creating overreaching mandates regarding the use of hunting equipment.
  • Continues to infringe on the right to bear arms by maintaining a ban and criminal penalties for possessing silencers on firearms shorter than seventeen inches.
  • Does not fully align with federal law, which allows silencers on handguns (subject to NFA registration), creating a discrepancy where state law is stricter than federal law.
  • Leaves open the possibility for future restrictions by defining the legality based on the specific length of the firearm.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 14 additions · 1 deletion

SECTION 1. Section 11-47-20 of the General Laws in Chapter 11-47 entitled "Weapons" is hereby amended to read as follows: 11-47-20. Sale or possession of silencers.

(a) It shall be unlawful within this state to manufacture, sell, purchase, or possess and/or use a firearm, with an overall length of less than seventeen inches (17”), which has attached any muffler, silencer, or device for deadening or muffling the sound of a firearm when discharged; provided, however, that law enforcement officers utilizing said devices while acting within the scope of their official duties, as tactical teams and under the direct supervision of the police chief or the colonel of the state police or their designee, shall not be in violation of this section.

(b) Violations of this section shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one year and one day.

SECTION 2. Chapter 20-13 of the General Laws entitled "Hunting and Hunting Safety" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: 20-13-19. Hunting with suppressors.

(a) Any individual in lawful possession of a device that will silence, suppress or muffle the sound or natural report of a rifle or shotgun when the rifle or shotgun is discharged, may, at the individual’s sole discretion, use such device to hunt any game for which the individual is licensed, provided the host rifle or shotgun to which the device is attached is permitted pursuant to § 20-13- 13.

(b) No city, town, committee, board, or other state or local agency may enact rules, regulations, or ordinances requiring or any other manner, mandating the use of a device that will silence, suppress, or muffle the sound or natural report of a rifle or shotgun.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.