Gun Control—Searching for Safety in Rhode Island 

There has been a lot of press recently about gun control and gun safety in Rhode Island. In October the Providence Journal ran a week-long series on the cost of gun violence in the state (http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20131012-the-cost-of-a-bullet-price-of-gun-violence-takes-widespread-toll-in-rhode-island-1.ece). 

Two more recent articles are of particular interest. One published on Wednesday was a survey conducted by the Providence Journal and WPRI ( http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20131119-journalwpri-12-poll-nearly-half-of-rhode-islanders-polled-say-states-gun-laws-dont-go-far-enough.ece); the other, in today's paper, discusses  where Rhode Island stand as far as reporting mental health records to a national gun check database. (http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20131120-report-ri-still-not-contributing-mental-health-records-to-national-gun-check-database.ece). Mayors Against Illegal Guns rates Rhode Island among the worse as far as gun control (http://www.demandaction.org/fatalgaps).

Both Pro Jo articles are worth a read, but you might also like to check out this podcast from Backstory Radio with the American History Guys (http://backstoryradio.org/shows/straight-shot-guns-in-america-rebroadcast/). This particular episode brings an historical (and some times surprising) perspective to the issue of gun control. Backstory is a great podcast, by the way; check out the one on domestic spying.

You can check out the League's position on gun control on our website www.lwvri.org.