Message From the Senate Minority Leader Jessica De la Cruz

The Shield of Liberty: Why America’s 250th Means Standing Up for the Second Amendment

As America celebrates its 250th birthday, Rhode Island Senate Republicans have a reminder: the Constitution is not a list of suggestions. It’s a shield protecting citizens from government overreach.

The Second Amendment says it plainly: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The first part — the prefatory clause — explains why the right exists. The second — the operative clause — is the command: that right “shall not be infringed.” One doesn’t limit the other; as Justice Scalia held in Heller, stating a purpose doesn’t narrow the right that follows. Pairing a rationale with a command was simply how legal drafting worked in the founding era. Our founders knew a basic truth that still holds up today: a free people stays free only if it can protect itself. The Second Amendment wasn’t written for deer hunting. It was written so citizens could stand up against tyranny.

Rhode Island is exhibit A. In 2022, the Democrat supermajority passed the Large Capacity Feeding Device Ban, making it a felony to own standard magazines holding more than 10 rounds. Lawmakers refused a grandfather clause, forcing law-abiding citizens to alter, surrender, or destroy property they’d legally bought. Gun owners fought back, but the law survived after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review it, for now anyway. The same lawmakers who pushed it admitted it was most likely unconstitutional — then let it grind through the courts anyway. That’s not respect for your rights, or the oath they swore to protect them.

The erosion doesn’t stop there. On July 1, 2026, the state’s so-called “assault weapons” ban took effect, outlawing the sale and manufacture of common semi-automatic firearms. It targets responsible sportsmen and women — not the criminals causing violence on our streets. As I write this, I’ve just been alerted that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the assault weapons ban cases next erm, beginning in October. Within a year, I believe the lawmakers that voted for the ban will be reminded that the Constitution still matters.

But gun control advocates aren’t done. This session, they tried to “finish the job” by banning outright possession of these newly restricted firearms, wiping out protections for current owners, and threatening to turn hundreds of honest Rhode Islanders into felons overnight. Republicans and Second Amendment defenders blocked it, along with a bill that would’ve opened the floodgates to frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers. But the pressure isn’t letting up. Protecting the right to keep and bear arms isn’t negotiable — it’s the bedrock of American liberty.

Self-government and individual rights are etched into who we are as Rhode Islanders. Our strength comes from the independence of our people — not a state government that thinks it knows how to run your life better than you do.

In 2022, the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen was correctly decided because it restored the proper constitutional test for the Second Amendment: firearm regulations must be consistent with the nation’s historic tradition of firearm regulation. That means lawmakers cannot simply declare a modern ban reasonable and expect it to survive. They must show a historical analogue rooted in our constitutional history. Rhode Island’s bans on standard magazines and common use semi-automatic firearms do not meet that standard, because they are modern policy preferences, not longstanding traditions recognized by the founders or by American history.

This 250th anniversary is our chance to draw a new line in the sand — to reset Rhode Island’s trajectory and recommit to the unalienable rights given to us by our Creator. Stand for individual freedom. Defend the Constitution. Push back against government overreach. Keep the flame of liberty burning for the next 250 years.

Yours in Liberty,

Senator Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz