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RI AG’s gun crimes report shows rising enforcement of magazine limits
The number of cases charged rose from 304 in 2024 to 384 in 2025.
Attorney General Peter F. Neronha’s annual “gun crimes” report shows that authorities have increased their enforcement of a new law that makes it illegal to carry a magazine holding more than 10 rounds.
Working with police, prosecutors charged 384 of the magazine cases in 2025 compared with 304 in 2024, says the report, which many regard as a kind of barometer on gun control in the state.
A 2022 law limits higher-capacity magazines. Illegal magazines were recovered at the scenes of two recent mass shootings, one at Brown University in December and the other at Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket in February.
Neronha references both shootings prominently and with sadness in his opening to the report, which he compiles each year in accordance with state law.
“Whether gun crimes have trended up or down in 2025 (they have trended up a bit) is almost a moot point when a community as tight-knit as Rhode Island is still mourning in the aftermath of such tragedies,” Neronha writes. “And yet, our Office continues to work tirelessly to address gun violence.”
The report shows that prosecutors:
The report notes that on Oct. 31, 2025, a judge gave a life prison sentence to 28-year-old Jovon Depina for murdering Jovani Velez with a ghost gun.
A total of 418 of the 498 new cases were charged in Providence County.
On Oct. 23, 2025, 53-year-old Luis Sepulveda was found guilty of murder and of possessing a large-capacity feeding device.
Ariana Wohl, board chair for the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence, said the volume of magazine cases shows the significance of the new law.
“That’s hundreds of potential acts of violence that were interrupted,” Wohl said.
“Prevention is sometimes hard to recognize,” Wohl said, “because the violence isn’t happening, but these kind of cases help us show that … having the laws on the books matters.”
She acknowledged that the public cannot assume that anyone possessing an illegal magazine will commit an act of violence.
“But it only takes one angry person with a high-capacity lethal weapon to create a real tragedy,” she said. “The point of prevention is not to allow for even one.”
Dan Kesler, vice president of Para Bellum Provisions, said he expected an even larger number of magazine cases in 2025.
“So the numbers went up this year for the magazine capacity limit, and I would have expected it would have gone up more than it actually did, because everyone is getting more accustomed to charging those crimes now.”
Kesler’s organization supports the gun-rights community and also provides firearms safety classes.
He also said that actual convictions are a stronger reflection of enforcement activity than arrests and charges.
He said that Para Bellum is working on an analysis of the attorney general’s gun report that will be posted on its website, ParaBellumProvisions.org.
WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.
Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.
According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.
The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.
The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.
A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.
State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.
Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.
McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.
“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”
“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”
The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.
The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.
The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.
At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.
The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.
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