FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 3, 2025

Contact: communications@ri.gop

RI GOP Chairman Joe Powers Condemns Passage of Gun Ban in House Judiciary Committee: “This is a Full-Frontal Assault on Your Rights”

Warwick, RI — The Rhode Island Republican Party, under the leadership of Chairman Joe Powers, is condemning the recent gun ban passed by the House Judiciary Committee as a blatant attack on the Constitution and an alarming escalation in the erosion of individual liberties.

“This isn’t about guns—it’s about rights. Your rights,” said Powers. “As a citizen of Rhode Island and the United States of America, you are guaranteed certain freedoms that no governor, no legislator, and certainly no radical political movement has the authority to revoke.”

Powers emphasized that the gun ban is likely unconstitutional, and potentially illegal, noting that “this legislation is a political Trojan horse. It’s designed to look like public safety, but it’s nothing more than government overreach wrapped in fear-mongering. They’re hoping you won’t notice your rights being stripped away, one inch at a time.”

Citing the wisdom of President Ronald Reagan, Powers reminded Rhode Islanders that, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” He added, “We’re watching a slow-motion hijacking of our freedoms—driven by a fringe ideology that wants power, not safety.”

“History has shown us what happens when governments disarm their citizens. Venezuela, Cuba, the Soviet Union—every one of them started the same way: a restriction here, a new law there, always in the name of the ‘public good.’ Before long, rights disappeared. Dissent disappeared. People disappeared.”

Powers issued a call to action to every Rhode Islander. “We need to wake up. If you’re not alarmed yet, you’re not paying attention. Today it’s your firearms. Tomorrow it’ll be your speech, your faith, and your property. That’s how tyranny creeps in—not with a bang, but with applause from the State House.”

Powers concludes, “Enough is enough. Rhode Islanders need to take Rhode Island back before the far-left strips away what’s left of our liberties. This isn’t just a fight for the Second Amendment—it’s a fight for the soul of our state. Let’s make sure we’re the generation that stood up, not the one that gave up.”

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