West Greenwich becomes latest “Second Amendment sanctuary”

WEST GREENWICH, R.I. (WLNE) — Wednesday night the West Greenwich town council voted to become the next “Second Amendment sanctuary.”

The vote was met with overwhelming applause from the West Greenwich residents in the room.

Many of them say they see state gun control legislation as a threat.

“I do not like the fact that they keep infringing on law–abiding citizens,” said Brenda Jacob of West Greenwich, “when they should actually be working on the criminals.”

The vote means West Greenwich now joins Burrillville and, also this week, Hopkinton.

“We just want the governor to know, and the state legislature to know, that we’ve got our eye on them, not just them on us,” said Hopkinton Town Council President Frank Landolfi.

Second Amendment sanctuary supporters say it’s hypocritical for the governor to support sanctuary cities for immigrants but not for gun owners.

“This is a political process,” said Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, a Democrat. “The right way to oppose it is to lobby against it in the legislature.”

Gun control advocates say they’re concerned about second amendment sanctuaries, especially coming against the backdrop this week of another school shooting — this time just a few miles from Columbine.

“The gun laws we have on the books protect us,” said Linda Finn of the Rhode Island Coalition against Gun Violence. “They protect us against domestic violence abusers, they protect us against people that are felons that shouldn’t have guns. We have good strong laws in Rhode Island. To think that we’re going to try to erode the laws we already have is really kind of frightening.”

Town leaders say the resolutions are mostly symbolic, and for now they expect their police departments to continue following state law.

Glocester will vote on the issue May 16.

©WLNE-TV / ABC6 2019