Oklahoma Restores Rights, Rhode Island Eyes the Grab

The Second Amendment Foundation's Grassroots Legislative Report for the week of April 20 maps the battlefield state by state — and the lines are sharp.

Oklahoma delivered on April 14 when the Senate advanced legislation to restore gun rights to eligible citizens. That's how government is supposed to work — recognizing rights, not strangling them.

Rhode Island moved in the opposite direction. The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings this week on a package of bills targeting law-abiding gun owners, then punted every single one by holding them "for further study." Don't mistake delay for defeat. Two of those bills rank among the most aggressively anti-Second Amendment proposals active in any state legislature right now.

"Held for further study" is Rhode Island's polite way of saying they haven't given up. These bills stay alive, and anti-gun lawmakers will keep pushing.

This is how the gun grab works. Politicians don't ram bad legislation through in one shot. They introduce it, generate headlines, hold hearings, and wait for public attention to drift before quietly advancing it again. Rhode Island gun owners cannot afford to look away.

The contrast between Oklahoma and Rhode Island captures the whole story of 2026 state-level politics. Red states expand and restore rights. Blue states engineer new ways to burden, restrict, and criminalize responsible ownership — targeting the law-abiding while doing nothing to stop actual criminal violence.

The SAF's grassroots network tracks these battles in real time so gun owners aren't caught flat-footed when a committee vote drops with 48 hours notice.

If you live in Rhode Island, contact your state senator today and demand they kill every anti-gun bill in that committee. Find your representative at the Rhode Island General Assembly website. Your rights don't defend themselves.