According to Firearm Chronicles
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo is raising eyebrows and taking heat for her decision to have the state police “hunt down” and quarantine any New Yorkers who might try to flee the Big Apple and seek refuge in the smallest state in the Union, but the governor is also receiving some qualified praise from gun owners after she reversed her decision to order gun ranges to shut down during the coronavirus pandemic.
Frank Saccoccio, president of the Rhode Island Second Amendment Coalition, says he reached out to the governor’s office to object to the closure of gun ranges, arguing that the many new gun owners in the state need access to ranges right now in order to get some hands-on experience with their recent purchases. “They have to have some venue where they can go safely to know how to load the firearm, unload the firearm,” Frank Saccoccio told NBC 10 News in an interview Friday. “They need to see if there are any safety features on it, how to properly store it, be able to talk to a range safety officer or somebody who is trained with regards to firearms and to tell them how to properly transport it, how to keep it safe when it’s in their house. All of these features have to be available to someone in the event they just purchased a new firearm.” Surprisingly, Raimondo appears to have been swayed by Saccocio’s argument. On Friday, the state announced new rules that will allow indoor and outdoor ranges to remain open, though their capacity will be severely curtailed.