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Middletown council declines to adopt resolution opposing state assault‑weapons legislation
Summary
After public comment and a lengthy council debate, the Middletown council voted on a proposed resolution opposing Rhode Island assault‑weapons legislation; the motion failed.
The Town of Middletown council voted on June 9 on a proposed resolution opposing Rhode Island’s 2025 assault‑weapons legislation and did not adopt the measure.
The proposed resolution was introduced to register the town’s opposition to state-level gun restrictions under consideration in the General Assembly. Dozens of residents attended the meeting to voice views on both sides. Several members of the public urged the council not to pass the opposition resolution because they supported the state bill; others urged the council to express local opposition.
Speakers in favor of the state assault‑weapons ban included Mark Donahue, who spoke of mass‑shooting trends and cited polling that he said showed broad Rhode Island support for an assault‑weapons prohibition. Lawrence Frank, representing the Middletown Democratic Committee, read federal research assessing reductions in criminal use following prior assault‑weapon restrictions and urged the council not to adopt a position opposing the state measure.
Speakers opposing the state bill and urging the council to register local opposition also addressed the council. Several council members voiced mixed views during debate. Some said they do not want a municipal body to preempt or attempt to influence state policy on firearms; others expressed personal concerns about certain weapons but said the council was not the right forum to take a position. One councilor urged the council to focus on municipal priorities such as education funding rather than weigh in on state legislation.
After debate the council took a vote on the motion to pass the resolution opposing the state assault‑weapons bill. The motion failed. The council did not adopt the written letter of opposition.
Public comment at the meeting included personal accounts and statewide legal context: one speaker noted that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear challenges to similar state bans on assault weapons and high‑capacity magazines the same day, while another speaker recalled a recent school shelter‑in‑place that highlighted community concern about firearms incidents. Several speakers urged the council to allow the state legislative process and courts to decide the issue rather than issuing a town-level opposition resolution.
