PROVIDENCE, RI — The National Rifle Association celebrated the failure of two Rhode Island gun control bills to advance.
"It is always good news for Rhode Islanders when anti-gun politicians go home for the year, but this year was a double dose of good news as several damaging gun control bills failed to advance," the NRA Institute for Legislative Action posted to its website.
The NRA lauded the lack of action on the gun control front after Rhode Island endured two mass shootings in the last six months.
In December, Claudio Neves Valente fired at least 44 shots in the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building, killing two and wounding eight others.
Neves Valente, 48, was also linked to the shooting death of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro, who was found mortally wounded in his Brookline home Dec. 15, with the feds calling the connection a certainty.
In February, Robert Dorgan, 56, shot his ex-wife, Rhonda Dorgan, her son Aidan Dorgan, her father, Gerald Dorgan, her mother, Linda Dorgan, and a family friend, Thomas Geruso at Dennis M. Lynch Arena while his son Colin Dorgan was playing in a high school hockey game.
Rhonda Dorgan, Aidan Dorgan and Gerald Dorgan were all killed. Robert Dorgan, who also went by the name Stephanie Esposito. turned his gun on himself and took his own life.
"We want to thank all Ocean State NRA members who contacted their legislators and made the trip to the Statehouse to oppose these bills when they were being heard in committee," the NRA post said. "Your action made the difference!"
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