There’s politics, and then there’s the indefensible.
Rhode Island Senate President Val Lawson has the power to ban assault-style firearms right now. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. No one else matters. There’s no secret bogeyman preventing her from bringing the bill to a vote.
Lawson claims to support legislation that sailed through the House of Representatives last week. The teachers’ union she leads as part of her day job – National Education Association Rhode Island – has endorsed the bill. And the majority of the Senate would vote to ban these kinds of guns if given the opportunity.
Instead, the bill is at risk of stalling in the final days of the legislative session because Lawson, a brand new Senate president, doesn’t seem to have the courage to stand up to a handful of more conservative senators who helped her land her new leadership post six weeks ago.
Here’s the lay of the land.
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The House of Representatives voted 43-28 last week to pass the bill, the first time in state history that either chamber has approved an assault weapons ban. The bill is slightly watered down from previous proposals, but it looks pretty similar to Connecticut’s already-existing law. Attorney Peter Neronha has already said he supports the bill, and is ready to defend it when it’s challenged in court.
We’re supposed to take politicians at their word – so it’s worth pointing out that Lawson isn’t just a lukewarm supporter of banning assault weapons. She claims to be enthusiastic about it.
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Just last week, Senate spokesman Greg Pare said Lawson “strongly supports the assault weapons ban legislation.”
But then came the hammer.
“She will continue working with her colleagues on the Judiciary Committee to try to win its passage,” Pare added.
And that’s where Lawson begins hiding in plain sight.
The Senate Judiciary Committee still includes Democrats who’d be Republicans anywhere else — and it’s likely deadlocked on the bill. That means it dies quietly in committee.
It’s true that the Judiciary Committee would ordinarily handle legislation related to firearms, and on the House side, the Judiciary Committee was the one that vetted and amended the bill that ultimately won full approval.
But Lawson doesn’t have to accept that. She has plenty of options that are all well within the Senate’s rules to bring the bill to vote in the full chamber.
She could bypass the committee process altogether, similar to the way the Senate handled a bill banning high-capacity magazines a few years ago. If she believes the House bill deserves thorough committee vetting, she could send it to the Finance Committee or the Health and Human Services Committee, where it stands a better chance of passing.
Could.
Should.
But will she?
You see, Lawson leads a chamber that has been fractured ever since former Senate President Dominick Ruggerio chose to run for his leadership spot again despite battling cancer. He won the office, but died in April.
Lawson was elected Ruggerio’s No. 2 late last year, a sign that she would eventually ascend to the presidency. But the process was messy. Some senators harbored lingering animosity over Ruggerio remaining president until his death. Then there was a faction of more conservative Democrats led by Senator Frank Ciccone who quietly tried to take control of the chamber.
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Lawson wound up winning, but she ended up with Ciccone as her majority leader. Ciccone is a vocal opponent of the assault weapons ban, and promised Republicans he’d kill the bill in exchange for votes for president.
Ciccone ended up as Lawson’s No. 2, but he nonetheless seems to be getting what he wants.
Lawson has the chance to show that she’s really the one in charge, and pass legislation that 64 percent of registered voters in Rhode Island say they support.
Or she could do nothing, and hope we all forget she had the power to act.
Dan McGowan can be reached at dan.mcgowan@globe.com. Follow him @danmcgowan.