Rhode Island Senate committee gets its turn listening to gun-control debate

PROVIDENCE — The campaign for an assault-weapons ban moved to friendlier ground in the Rhode Island Senate on Tuesday, where there are already enough co-sponsors to virtually guarantee passage if the legislation is ever put to a vote.

The reception in the House Judiciary Committee two weeks ago was chilly, with the former municipal police and military officers on the committee challenging Col. James Manni, the new head of the state police and a former SWAT team commander, on the need for new gun-control measures in Rhode Island.

But five of the nine members of the Senate committee holding Tuesday night’s hearing on the gun-safety package backed by Gov. Gina Raimondo, Attorney General Peter Neronha and Manni are co-sponsors of the proposed assault weapons ban.

They include Senate Judiciary Committee Chairwoman Erin Lynch Prata of Warwick and fellow Democrats Harold Metts of Providence, Cynthia Coyne of Barrington, Dawn Euer of Newport and Mark McKenney of Warwick.

Read more: https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190402/ri-senate-committee-gets-its-turn-listening-to-gun-control-debate