Rhode Island Bill Could Turn Gun Owners Into Criminals for Keeping the Firearms They Legally Bought

Two new bills introduced in the Rhode Island legislature are taking aim at legal gun owners, and one of them could easily turn lawful gun owners into criminals overnight, simply for maintaining possession of the firearms they legally purchased. 

Each of these bills, by themselves, represent a major infringement on the right to keep and bear arms, but taken together they pose an existential threat to the Second Amendment rights of Rhode Island residents. 

Any gun or magazine ban that allows existing owners to maintain possession of their arms can be amended in the future to remove those protections, and that’s exactly what H8073 does with so-called assault weapons. The state’s ban on the sale and transfer of modern sporting rifles, which was only adopted a year ago, would be expanded to prohibit the possession of those arms beginning July 1 of this year. Simply keeping the gun you lawfully purchased could result in a ten-year prison sentence and/or a fine of up to $10,000.

Then there’s H7755, which would expand the state’s “Responsible Firearm Purchasing Act.” Under the current law, anyone purchasing a handgun must provide the seller with a valid “training certificate” issued by the Rhode Island Attorney General, and after the sale has been approved they’re subjected to a 7-day waiting period before they can take possession of their handgun. 

H7755 would expand that requirement (and waiting period) to all gun sales in the state. In order to simply purchase a gun to keep in the home you’d have to take an 8-hour training course complete with a live-fire requirement, and then pass a written test developed by the Attorney General’s office. 

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Trans ice rink shooter Robert Dorgan was cousins with the ex-wife he murdered

Deranged transgender gunman Robert Dorgan was cousins with his ex-wife, Rhonda Dorgan, whom he gunned down along with their son at a high school hockey game.

The twisted relationship emerged after records showed the killer had the same name as his murdered ex and her parents, who were also seriously injured in his rampage Monday, according to the Providence Journal.

A deep dive then showed that he and Rhonda were first cousins once removed when they tied the knot in 1992.

Dorgan had deliberately targeted his family at the high school hockey game in Pawtucket on Monday, killing Rhonda, their son, Aidan, and leaving her parents, Gerald and Linda Dorgan, fighting for their lives.

At first, the reason for the shooter having the same last name as his ex-wife’s parents was not immediately clear, but the outlet delved into their family tree via the 1950 Census.

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Son of trans hockey shooter revealed to be arsonist who attempted to burn down black church as cops seize terrifying weapons stash

The son of the transgender shooter who opened fire at a high school hockey game is serving time in federal prison for setting fire to a black church.

Robert Dorgan, 56, who also went by ‘Roberta Esposito,’ took his own life after he fired shots inside the Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on Monday afternoon, killing his son Aidan Dorgan, 23, and his ex-wife Rhonda, 52.

Dorgan’s in-laws, Linda and Gerald Dorgan, both 75, and her friend Thomas Geruoso, 54, an assistant principal at Shea High School in Pawtucket also remain in critical condition at a local hospital following the rampage.

While investigating the shooting, authorities discovered that Dorgan was the biological father of Kevin Colantonio, 37, who tried to burn down the Shiloh Gospel Temple Ministries in North Providence two years ago.

North Providence Police Chief Alfredo Ruggiero Jr. told the Boston Globe that investigators made the connection on Wednesday and reviewed an interview they conducted with Colantonio’s mother, Marlyse Dunbar, following his arrest.

She told officers at the time that Dorgan – who has a Nazi-inspired tattoo on his bicep and voiced his support for ‘white power’ – was Colantonio’s father. 

The development came as police released images of firearms they recovered after conducting a search of Dorgan’s apartment, work locker, and storage unit.

The images depicted a sawed-off shotgun and AR-15 style rifle seized from the storage unit. Two handguns were recovered at the scene of the massacre.

People close with the family have since told WPRI that Dorgan influenced his son’s dangerous fixation on race. 

The son even scrawled white nationalist messages in notebooks seized by federal investigators following the fire on February 11, 2024. 

One disturbing message read: ‘Hunt them down gun everyone down that isn’t white, if one is white spread the gospel. Always gibe our bloodline a chance.’

‘Eliminate Rich Snob global Elite Pastors, burn churches down to the ground, when congregants move to [the] next church, do the same,’ read another of Colantonio’s messages.

Authorities said Colantonio bought a Bic lighter and $10 worth of gas from a local gas station before walking over to the Shiloh Gospel Temple Ministries, a Pentecostal church with about 100, mostly black, members.

Once at the church, Colantonio poured gasoline around its base and ignited five different fires, all of which were quickly extinguished – but not before causing significant damage to the church.

‘Due to the damage, church congregants were prevented from enjoying their free exercise of religious beliefs as church services were canceled until the church could be reopened,’ federal prosecutors said. 

Just one day after the blaze, court documents showed Colantonio privately messaged an unidentified family member and said no one in the community cared about the arson.

In those messages, he called the church ‘Atheist God mockers,’ adding: ‘They’re busy dancing around collecting money.’

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Transgender shooter who murdered ex-wife and son at hockey game had Nazi tattoo

The transgender gunman who killed his ex-wife and son at a high school hockey match apparently had a Nazi-inspired tattoo on his arm. 

Robert Dorgan, 56, who also went by the name ‘Roberta Esposito,’ was seen showing off a large SS symbol on his bicep in a photo posted to his social media pages, where he would often voice his support for ‘white power.’

The symbol was frequently used in Nazi Germany propaganda and signage.

In the center of Dorgan’s tattoo was a white skull and crossbones with glowing red eyes, known as Totenkopf or the ‘death’s head’ skull, which was used as a symbol of a branch of the SS ‘whose purpose was to guard the concentration camps,’ according to the Anti-Defamation League. 

The symbol is now often used by neo-Nazis and other white supremacists ‘because of its importance to the SS.’

Dorgan also had a history of spreading antisemitic and racist rhetoric on social media, even posting an anti-Asian slur as he replied to a video praising Adolf Hitler just one day before he opened fire at the Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

That same day, Dorgan also threatened to go ‘BESERK.’

His son, Aidan Dorgan, 23, was killed alongside his mother Rhonda, 52, and three other family members were left critically injured in the rampage on Monday, which came to an end when the gunman took his own life.

The tragedy occurred just feet from where Rhonda’s youngest son Colin Dorgan, 17, was competing on the ice.

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Chilling warning signs before ‘narcissistic’ trans dad ‘shot ex-wife and kids’ in hockey game bloodbath

The gunman who killed two people at a youth hockey game in Rhode Island appeared to post ominous warnings in the days before the deadly shooting.

An online profile that appears to belong to Robert Dorgan, 56, who also went by the name ‘Roberta Esposito‘, shared an eerie video of a woman running on a treadmill while loading ammunition magazines into a handgun and aiming. 

In another post on X, a profile for ‘Roberta Dorgano’ threatened to go ‘BERSERK’ while defending transgender Congresswoman Sarah McBride.

‘Keep bashing us,’ they wrote Sunday. ‘But do not wonder why we Go BESERK.’

Just hours after the shooting, a woman who claimed to be Dorgan’s daughter claimed the gunman ‘has mental health issues’. 

‘He shot my family, and he’s dead now,’ the woman told WCVB.

Dorgan’s wife, Rhonda, who was reportedly killed in the shooting, claimed on divorce documents that her husband displayed ‘narcissistic and personality disorder traits’. 

Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves said Monday night that Dorgan entered the Dennis M Lynch Arena to watch a high school hockey match. The attacker then opened fire at around 2.30pm. 

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Rhode Island Transgender Hockey Game Shooter Identified — Replied to Alex Jones About Trans People Going ‘Fkn Berserk’ Day Before Family Massacre

The transgender man who shot and killed three members of his family during a high school hockey game at Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on Monday has been identified as Robert K. Dorgan, 56, of North Providence, who went by the name “Roberta Esposito,” or “Roberta Dorgano,” and identified as a “woman.”

Dorgan was the parent of a player on the North Providence High School team.

The biological male posted on X the day before the shooting, writing to Alex Jones about how low tolerance for transgender people is why “trans ppl go fkn BERSERK.”

Dorgan wrote, “stfu Alex dont be so butt hurtt over somebody different. then wonder why trans ppl go fkn BERSERK,” in response to Jones calling a photo of Rep. Tim McBride, who is also transgender, “so creepy.”

The killer had also replied to actor Kevin Sorbo, saying, “Keep bashing us. but do not wonder why we Go BERSERK.”

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Brown University Replaces DEI Campus Security Chief with Former Providence Police Chief

The Gateway Pundit reported that Brown University placed their DEI campus security chief Rodney Chatman on leave following the deadly shooting on campus that killed two people and wounded nine others.

Brown President Christina Paxson announced on Monday that Hugh Clements, a former Providence police chief, will serve as the interim head of Public Safety at Brown.

WPRI reports:

Clements retired from Providence police in January 2023 after serving nearly 40 years in uniform. He was colonel of the department for 12 years.

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After leaving Providence, Clements was named director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) for the U.S. Department of Justice. He stepped down earlier this year and has been working as a security consultant.

Clements is a widely respected law enforcement leader and was contacted by the university days after the shooting, Target 12 has learned.

Paxon noted that Clements would report directly to her.

Under Chatman’s leadership, there are many unanswered questions about how the shooter so easily gained access to the building where the shootings occurred.

A janitor at the school has come forward saying he warned school authorities about a strange figure who turned out to be the shooter, days before the incident.

The New York Post notes that Chatman has been the subject of two no-confidence votes since arriving at Brown in 2021, “with the measures expressing ‘deep concern’ about Chatman’s ability to lead the Brown Police Department.”

The Brown Daily Herald reported that in January 2025, he faced allegations from one departing officer who claimed the workplace was a “toxic,” “vindictive” “s—tshow.”

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“Do You Know Who I Am?…You’re a D**k…I’m Going to Get You Motherf**ker” – Entitled Democrat Goes on Nasty Tirade After Getting Busted for Drunk Driving

An entitled Rhode Island Democrat went on a self-absorbed tirade before and after breaking the law in embarrassing fashion last week.

As The Daily Mail reported, 51-year-old Maria A. Bucci, the chairwoman of Cranston’s Democratic Committee, was charged with driving under the influence on December 18 after a traffic stop.

The Boston Globe obtained court documents that showed that police pulled Bucci, a former mayoral candidate, over for having “severely bloodshot, glassy and watery eyes.” They also detected “a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from inside the vehicle.”

However, Bucci apparently thought her Democratic privilege would shield her from trouble as she repeatedly told officers, “Do you know who I am?”

Not surprisingly, police recognized she was a figure of minor importance and proceeded to do their job. This only made Bucci angrier, as she proceeded to berate the officers in a vulgar manner.

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Brown University Police Chief Placed on Leave

Brown University announced on Monday that they had placed the school’s chief of police, Rodney Chatman, on administrative leave.

“Vice President for Public Safety and Emergency Management Rodney Chatman will be on administrative leave, effective immediately,” the university said in a statement.

Along with the suspension, the university is commissioning an externally-led after-action review, a move that the university says is standard practice. The review will include “a complete assessment and evaluation of campus safety in the period leading up to the tragedy, the preparedness and response on the date of the shooting, and the emergency management response in the aftermath.”

Brown will also be engaging a rapid response team to increase security ahead of the new semester. They will also be conducting an analysis of their campus security policies with an “on-site physical security assessment of the perimeter of buildings, access points, cameras and technology, and other infrastructure conditions, and will build on work underway to enhance security immediately”

Former Providence Chief of Police Hugh T. Clements will serve in both of Chatman’s former roles in the interim.

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Janitor at Brown University Warned Campus Security Multiple Times in Weeks Leading up to Shooting – “He’d Been Casing That Place for Weeks”

The Brown University gunman had been reported to campus security by an ignored custodian several times for repeatedly walking around campus and peering into classrooms before he ultimately shot up the school. 

“Something’s off with this guy, so I gotta say something,” Derek Lisi thought, but his warnings apparently fell on deaf ears.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, the suspected Brown shooter was found dead inside a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, on Thursday evening.

Six days after he opened fire, killing two students and injuring nine others, 48-year-old Claudio Neves-Valente’s body was found days after he committed suicide. The medical examiner believes he killed himself the day after MIT professor Nuno Loureiro was murdered in his Massachusetts home.

Claudio Neves-Valente was a student at Brown University in the early 2000s and a Portuguese national.

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