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The Rhode Island Attorney General issues concealed carry permits on a “may issue” basis. An applicant must write an essay justifying their desire to exercise their constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Ocean State cities and town also issue concealed carry permits (valid throughout the state) on a “shall issue” basis. The city or town must establish just cause for denying a resident a permit.

East Providence Police Chief Christopher J. Parella (above) figures the law doesn’t apply to him. Ignoring clear instructions from the RI Supreme Court, he refused to issue a concealed handgun permit to applicants, without providing a reason. From providencejournal.com:

“It’s very frustrating that citizens have to hire a lawyer just to obtain compliance with the Supreme Court ruling,” said David J. Strachman, who represents the three applicants. The law is not discretionary, as the city has argued, but mandatory if an applicant shows a proper reason to carry, he said.

Strachman criticized East Providence police in court papers for their “troubling history” of “flagrantly ignoring” the high court’s mandate and refusal to comply with state law.

Strachman is referring to the court’s 2015 ruling in the case of Norman Gadomski, a National Rifle Association instructor and gun collector who sought to carry a weapon for self-defense. The court found that the police chief, Joseph Tavares, had wrongly denied him a license by requiring that he show need. At the time, the city had not issued such a permit for 10 years.

Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that “a proper showing of need is not a component of the law,” The Providence Journal felt obliged to share the denied applicants’ reasons for applying.

The three applicants now seeking licenses to carry are Jessica de la Cruz, a stay-at-home mother of three who collects rents; Fernando Brasil, an information-technology engineer who grew up handling guns; and Brian K. Turgeon, a 52-year-old man who wants to protect himself and his wife.

The mother of three children younger than 6, de la Cruz, 35, wrote in her application that she is a landlord who often collects rent money. “Standing my ground to defend myself and my children would be the only option to ensure their survival,” she wrote.

Brasil, 34, told police that he had owned firearms since age 21 and that he wanted a license for self-defense.

“With the alarming rate of violent acts around the United States, it has become abundantly clear that my number one priority is to keep myself, my family, and my property safe from anyone seeking to do harm,” Brasil wrote.

Turgeon wrote in his application about being threatened less than a mile from his home by a man who had been recently released from prison and was friends with a career criminal. Turgeon has bad knees and lower back problems. He fears that he won’t be able to protect himself or his wife, who has multiple sclerosis and uses a cane.

The Court didn’t impose any penalty on the errant Chief Panrella, who has been willfully disobeying their previous ruling for a little more than a year. The Court ordered the Chief to explain his refusal to grant three permits. In writing. He has 90 days to do so.

It seems strange that RI’s highest court has to repeat itself less than eight months after their first finding. The applicants have already gone through months of process. During this entire period, the government has deprived them of their Second Amendment rights.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch

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37 COMMENTS

  1. He’s probably a democrat. They don’t have to comply with silly laws and court rulings if they don’t feel like it.

  2. East Providence Police Chief Christopher J. Parella JUST GAVE YOU THE FING REASON YOU NEED TO CARRY.

    Tell that tyrannical POS [likely a FING] (D) to pack his sh_t and go back to the house.

    Don’t make us have to fix your sh_t out there, cause we won’t have the time to sort you all out.

  3. Okay… in the meantime, anyone who applies and is rejected without explanation should be able to carry a gun without fear of prosecution. Right?

  4. They ordered him to provide an explanation for his refusal to grant three permits. He has 90 days to do so.

    Why does the justice system take so long? Imagine your boss approaching you at work, “You know company policy on this… why did you choose to ignore it? You have 90 days to answer me.”

  5. Article 1, section 22 of the Rhode Island Constitution provides: “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

    Where have we seen that language before?

    • I’ll take “The Constitution of the United States” for $500 Alex. Er, Ralph. Sorry, forgot what game show I’m on.

    • Yeah, the CT State Constitution has something similar, and it avoids the militia blather.

      Didn’t help us in 2013.

      • I’d need to double check, but I’m pretty sure the state constitution here in NY says the same thing. Also didn’t help us in 2013.

        • NY has the militia language and courts in NY have found it to be concurrent with federal 2nd.

          Which means they’ll let the NY government (NYC in practice) do whatever it wants unless the federal courts knock it down.

  6. I don’t trust skinny chefs, tattoo artists with no ink or fat cops.

    On the plus side his physical fatness reminds me that I’ve failed to carry the past few days due to a medical distraction that he’s begging to get. Need to get my shit together.

  7. It’s only a matter of time before all states go the same way. This is why the Founders wanted unity in federal laws across all states. No state should ever be able to contravene the COTUS.

  8. So, Sheriff Arpaio admits to an honest mistake made by his department, and he got indicted. The prosecutor cannot prove he intended to violate the law, but they are going after him anyway. Chief Christopher J. Parella intentionally ignores a law, violates one of the most sacred amendments in the Constitution, and a court order to boot, yet he is not in shackles. I guess this is our new world. Further proof that if you do not tote the Democrat Party platform and you rail to show your loyalty to their modern fascist movement, they will destroy you. (If you support the Democrat Party, they destroy you, but with a little less haste.)

  9. Really? An entire essay just to carry in the tiny-a** state of Rhode Island??? That sucks, especially since all states bordering Rhode Island are also may-issue, and do not recognize permits from other states!

    • It has the distinct odor of a “literary test” for voting, does it not?

      It makes it easy to chill the right for people who are not practiced writers, and do not have the money to hire a practiced writer.

  10. Wimp judges. They should have given him 72 hours, and if they don’t like his reason he should get time in jail equal to the cumulative total he’s made people wait, and never be allowed to own a gun himself until every person in his jurisdiction who wants a permit gets one.

  11. They should slam his ass in jail until he starts issuing permits and see how long it takes for that to happen.
    Funny how jail does that sometimes, especially to cops.

  12. Why hasn’t the Rhode Island Supreme Court found the police chief in contempt of court and issued a bench warrant for his arrest?

  13. Well, at least the fine citizens of RI can own and purchase firearms through an indifferent waiting period background check…Unlike , the poor Residents of say Massachusetts…I used to work in loss prevention a long time ago in the planet Rhode Island. It works better for a RI citizen if they own a business, or are fanboys of LEO’s….This way a citizen could get “p/o sponsors” to push for their permits through city, or state…Just another political Clique…
    But, it was okay for ex-providence Mayor Cianci to use his RI state police bodyguards to assist in beating and torturing a man in regard to a personal domestic beef..(a log was used in part)…So long ago….RI , like Massachusetts has a lot of political and police corruption issues…

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