PROVIDENCE --The strangest bedfellows agree: Rhode Island has more expansive gun laws than most other states in the nation.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence rates Rhode Island as eighth out of all 50 states for the strength of its gun laws. A study published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds Rhode Island and other states with a breadth of gun laws also have lower rates of deaths from guns.
And then there's the National Rifle Association.
At a recent briefing at the State House, lobbyist Darin Goens held up the chart by the Brady Campaign that showed Rhode Island's ranking among other states. Among New England states, only Massachusetts and Connecticut ranked higher on gun-control laws.
"Rhode Island already has some of the toughest gun laws in the country," Goens said to a cluster of state legislators, as he urged them to focus on other matters.
But it all depends on your perspective.