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On Wednesday, Rhode Island Representative Teresa Tanzi (D) advocated for a legislative change aimed at eliminating a grandfather clause and employing “police power” to compel AR-15 owners to relinquish their firearms.
Earlier this year, in March, Breitbart News reported that Democratic lawmakers in Rhode Island were pushing to scrap the grandfather clause included in last year’s “assault weapons” legislation. This clause had allowed existing owners of now-banned firearms to keep them. However, a new push is underway to eliminate this exemption and enforce stricter penalties, including possible imprisonment, for possessing an AR-15. The vehicle for this legislative effort is bill H8073.
Tanzi spoke in favor of H8703 on Wednesday, saying, “Last year, we as a body, banned the sale, manufacture, and transfer, of certain ‘assault weapons’ as defined in that law. That was an important step, but it was only a partial one. We should be honest about that.”
In her remarks, Tanzi outlined that H8073 would require current AR-15 owners to “comply by lawfully selling or transferring” their rifles.
Addressing the argument that forcing owners to part with their firearms infringes on the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, Tanzi argued that Rhode Island’s actions fall under the state’s “police power” rather than constituting a “taking of property for public use.”
Tanzi explained that H8073 will force current AR-15 owners “to come into compliance by selling or transferring them lawfully.”
Tanzi addressed concerns that forcing AR-15 owners to get rid of their property violates the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause. She countered these concerns by claiming the situation in Rhode Island is one in which a state “is exercising its police power” rather than “taking property for public use.”
Breitbart News reported that H8073, if it becomes law, would provide for up to ten years in prison for AR-15 owners who refuse to comply with the Democrat mandate that they dispose of their rifles.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.