David Hogg, AFL-CIO leaders lobby for competing versions of R.I. ban on assault-style weapons – The Boston Globe

PROVIDENCE — Intense lobbying is under way for competing versions of a ban on assault-style weapons as the General Assembly sprints toward an expected finish of this year’s legislative session on Friday.

David Hogg — a survivor of the 2018 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., and a national gun safety advocate — weighed in in favor of the legislation that the House passed on June 5.

“I know that Rhode Islanders deserve a strong bill that not only bans the sale, but also the possession of assault weapons,” Hogg said in a statement. “It is this combination that equals public safety. The Senate version does not include possession, which is beyond unacceptable.”

Hogg, who was removed as a Democratic National Committee vice chair after pushing to target long-serving Democrats in safe congressional seats, sent a message to the 23 senators who co-sponsored the original bill, asking them to support the House version on Friday to ensure both sale and possession of the weapons are banned.

“Safety in our communities will only come with both,” he said, “and as Democrats, we should accept nothing less.”

Hogg was in Rhode Island in April to advocate for an assault weapons ban. “I am excited that the state is halfway there,” he said. “As a survivor of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, this issue is very important to me. We should all be concerned with Trump ruining our country and being intent on undoing federal protections related to gun safety.”

Hogg’s statement came from the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence, which is lobbying for the House bill and emphasizing that it is the only Rhode Island-based gun safety advocacy group.

The Senate version of the legislation has received support from Everytown for Gun Safety, which has said, “Compromise is a part of public policy progress, and the amended version of this bill is still a massive step forward in limiting access to weapons of war and a Rhode Island free from gun violence.”

The Senate version is backed by the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, which includes the National Education Association Rhode Island, whose leader is Senate President Valarie J. Lawson.

Rhode Island AFL-CIO President Patrick Crowley and Secretary-Treasurer Karen Hazard, issued a statement on Thursday, saying they “stand in full support of” the Senate bill and “applaud the Rhode Island state Senate for moving forward with this important piece of legislation.”

They noted that when the AFL-CIO conducted a poll in February, it found the 64 percent of Rhode Island voters supported “banning the sale and manufacture of military-style assault weapons in Rhode Island.”

“The bill under consideration accomplishes that goal,” Crowley and Hazard said. “We urge full passage of the bill by the state Senate and respectfully ask the House of Representatives to take up the measure as soon as possible.”

The Senate version of the bill is at the top of the calendar for the Senate session that is set to begin at 2 p.m. Friday.

Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.