PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A proposal to take guns away from domestic abusers and people under domestic restraining orders could be heading to a vote in the Rhode Island legislature after years of debate.
Proponents and opponents of the legislation agree that momentum has been building to put it to a vote this month.
The proposal includes a provision to require automatic confiscation of guns from people under certain domestic restraining orders, even if they aren’t convicted of a crime. Judges already have discretion to restrict gun ownership, but domestic violence prevention advocates say they too often don’t.
A spokesman for Democratic House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello has said the bill is “very much alive” and the speaker is looking carefully at House passage of the bill.
Gun rights groups say it goes too far.
