April 02, 2022
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Cranston leads the state in confiscating firearms under RI's red flag law - Yahoo News

CRANSTON — In the almost four years since Rhode Island adopted a "red flag" law to try to avert tragedies, a single police department has confiscated 174 firearms from 42 individuals.

Cranston Police Capt. Carl Ricci said privacy laws prevent him from disclosing too many details, but one case involved "a worker" who threatened to harm his co-workers and then commit suicide.

Another involved a man who texted a friend a photo of himself holding a Smith & Wesson pistol in his mouth.

Cranston's police chief, Col. Michael J. Winquist, said his department is
Cranston's police chief, Col. Michael J. Winquist, said his department is "very proactive" in invoking the red-flag law "because we know, obviously, the consequences of what can happen if a firearm is in the wrong hands."

In a third case, a man sent a letter to the federal courthouse threatening harm to undisclosed Cranston police.

In all, Ricci said, the Cranston Police Department has won 42 of the 43 "Extreme Risk Protection Orders" it has requested from the state court system since the 2018 passage of the law aimed at removing guns from violence-prone individuals at "imminent'' risk of killing themselves or others.

More: Gun control is about to take center stage again at RI State House. Here's what's proposed.

Cranston police say most cases involved domestic violence

Unlike other gun-crime cases in the courts, the vast majority of the firearms confiscated by Cranston police were legally obtained. And most of the cases involved what Ricci described as domestic violence.

As of this week, 10 of those orders are still in effect, prohibiting those named from purchasing or possessing firearms.

Statistics provided to The Providence Journal by the state court system this past week indicate the Cranston Police Department has been the most aggressive in the state in enforcing the better-safe-than-sorry law.

The 2018 passage of the law — along with a ban on the kinds of "bump-stock'' devices that enabled a lone gunman to kill 58 concert-goers in Las Vegas — came in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre and high-school shootings that left a trail of death in Parkland, Florida, and Sante Fe, Texas.



source: https://news.yahoo.com/cranston-leads-state-confiscating-firearms-005507665.html

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