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Ammunition and magazine laws in Rhode Island

We track 3 Rhode Island rules on ammunition and magazines; all are bans.

Check a specific item for Rhode Island

Rhode Island

BannedRhode Island allows ammunition sales only to buyers 21+ who hold a pistol/revolver safety certificate or RI hunter education card; an online seller cannot verify this, so do not ship ammunition directly to Rhode Island consumers.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-47-64 · effective Jun 21, 2022 · draft
Exact text
(a) For the purposes of this section “ammunition” means a loaded cartridge, consisting of a primed case, propellant or projectile, designed for use in any firearm as defined in § 11-47-2.
(b) No person, firm or corporation shall sell ammunition to any person unless such person is twenty-one (21) years of age or older and, after December 31, 2022, holds a valid pistol/revolver safety certificate or Rhode Island hunter education course card issued by the department of environmental management.
(c) The provisions of subsection (b) of this section shall not apply to full-time members of the state police, full-time members of the state marshal’s office, full-time members of city or town police departments, or state marshals or correctional officers, persons serving on active duty as a member of the United States armed forces or organized reserves or National Guard, or persons licensed to carry a firearm pursuant to § 11-47-11 or § 11-47-18.
(d) Any person who violates any provision of this section shall be guilty of a felony and may be punished by up to five (5) years imprisonment and/or a five thousand dollar
($5,000) fine.
BannedDo not sell or ship armor-piercing (steel or equivalent-core) pistol bullets to Rhode Island.
Exact text
It shall be unlawful within this state for any person to import, manufacture, sell, purchase, or otherwise transfer any bullets which have steel inner cores or cores of equivalent hardness and truncated cones and which are designed for use in pistols as armor-piercing or metal-piercing bullets. Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than three (3) years, or a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or both. This section shall not apply to the purchase of those bullets by the Rhode Island state police, by any city or town police department of the state of Rhode Island, or by the department of environmental management for display as a part of a firearms training course under its auspices.
BannedDo not sell or ship magazines holding more than 10 rounds (for semi-automatic firearms) to Rhode Island.
R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 11-47.1-2, 11-47.1-3 · effective Jun 20, 2022 · draft
Exact text
(a) No person, except for a federally licensed firearm dealer, shall manufacture, sell, offer to sell, transfer, purchase, possess, or have under his or her control a large capacity feeding device, except as otherwise authorized under this chapter. Any person convicted of violating the provisions of this section shall be punished by imprisonment of not more than five (5) years, or by a fine of up to five thousand dollars ($5,000), and the large capacity feeding device shall be subject to forfeiture.
(b) The provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall not apply to:
(1) Any person who, on June 20, 2022, lawfully possesses a large capacity feeding device; provided that, within one hundred eighty (180) days of June 20, 2022, the person:
(i) Permanently modifies the large capacity feeding device such that it cannot hold more than ten (10) rounds of ammunition;
(ii) Surrenders the large capacity feeding device to the police department in the city or town where the person resides in accordance with the procedures for surrender of weapons set forth by the police department or the Rhode Island state police, or, if there is no such police department or the person resides out of state, to the Rhode Island state police; or
(iii)

Federal

These apply in every state.

18+No seller (licensed or not) may sell or deliver handgun ammunition to anyone under 18.
Exact text
(x)(1) It shall be unlawful for a person to sell, deliver, or otherwise transfer to a person who the transferor knows or has reasonable cause to believe is a juvenile—
(A) a handgun; or
(B) ammunition that is suitable for use only in a handgun.
...
(5) For purposes of this subsection, the term "juvenile" means a person who is less than 18 years of age.
BannedDon't mail live ammunition, primers or gunpowder through USPS; use a ground carrier that accepts limited-quantity ammunition.
Exact text
Small Arms Ammunition: Ammunition is classified as a Division 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, or 1.4 explosive, depending on the degree of hazard. Ammunition that is regulated as a Class 1 explosive and designed to be fired from a pistol, revolver, rifle, or shotgun, as well as associated primers and blank cartridges (including those designed for tools) and propellant powder for use in any firearm, is prohibited from mailing.
...
Shotgun Hulls, Empty Casings, Nonmetallic Shotgun Hulls, or Casings Without Primers: These articles are not classified as explosives or hazardous materials under 49 CFR and, therefore, are mailable, subject to the applicable mailing rules (refer to 224).