Use ‘Police Power’ to Ensure AR-15 Owners Dispose of Rifles

On Wednesday, Rhode Island Representative Teresa Tazzi (D) spoke in support of efforts to repeal the legislative grandfather clause and use “police power” to force AR-15 owners to dispose of their rifles.

Breitbart News noted in March that Democrats in Rhode Island’s state legislature were trying to remove the grandfather clause included in the “assault weapons” ban passed last year. The grandfather clause allowed people who owned the newly banned firearms to retain possession of them. But now, Democrats are pushing to remove an older aspect of the ban and impose prison sentences simply for possessing an AR-15. The legislation through which they are attempting this is H8073.

Tanzi spoke in favor of H8703 on Wednesday, Saying“Last year, we, as a body, banned the sale, manufacture and transfer of certain ‘assault weapons’ as defined in that law. It was an important step, but it was only partial. We must be honest about it.”

He continued:

Right now our law draws an arbitrary line. We have said that these firearms can no longer enter the market, but we will continue to allow them to remain in circulation indefinitely. …If these weapons are too dangerous to be sold in Rhode Island then we really should have looked at possession right then and there. We didn’t, and this bill [H8073] “Heals him.”

Tanzi explained that H8073 would force current AR-15 owners “to come into compliance by legally selling or transferring them.”

Tanzi addressed concerns that forcing AR-15 owners to get rid of their property violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. He countered these concerns by claiming that the situation in Rhode Island is one in which a state is “exercising its police power” rather than “taking property for public use.”