Rhode Island General Laws

R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-47-9 (2026)

Persons exempt from restrictions

✓ current as of July 2026

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(a) The provisions of § 11-47-8 shall not apply to sheriffs; deputy sheriffs; the superintendent and members of the state police; members of the Rhode Island airport police department; members of the Rhode Island capitol police; Rhode Island state fire marshal; chief deputy state fire marshals; deputy state fire marshals assigned to the bomb squad, and those assigned to the investigation unit; Providence fire department arson investigators, provided that the investigator receiving the permit is a graduate of a police-training academy; correctional officers, chief inspector and inspectors within the office of inspections, within the department of corrections; members of the city or town police force; capitol police investigators of the department of attorney general appointed pursuant to § 42-9-8.1; the witness protection coordinator for the witness protection review board as set forth in chapter 30 of title 12 and subject to the minimum qualifications of § 42-9-8.1; automobile theft investigators of the Rhode Island state police pursuant to § 31-50-1; railroad police while traveling to and from official assignments or while on assignments; conservation officers; or other duly appointed law enforcement officers; nor to members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Marine Corps of the United States, the National Guard, or organized reserves, when on duty; nor to members of organizations by law authorized to purchase or receive firearms from the United States or this state, provided these members are at, or going to or from, their places of assembly or target practice; nor to officers or employees of the United States authorized by law to carry a concealed firearm; nor to any civilian guard or criminal investigator carrying sidearms or a concealed firearm in the performance of their official duties under the authority of the commanding officer of the military establishment in the state of Rhode Island where they are employed by the United States; nor to any civilian guard carrying sidearms or a concealed firearm in the performance of their official duties under the authority of the adjutant general where they are employed guarding a national guard facility, provided, that the commanding officer of the military establishment shall have on file with the attorney general of this state a list of the names and addresses of all civilian guards and criminal investigators so authorized; nor to duly authorized military organizations when on duty; nor to members when at, or going to or from, their customary places of assembly; nor to any individual employed in the capacity of warden, associate warden, major, captain, lieutenant, sergeant, correctional officer or investigator at any project owned or operated by a municipal detention facility corporation, including the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility; nor to the regular and/or ordinary transportation of pistols or revolvers as merchandise; nor to any person while transporting a pistol, or revolvers, unloaded from the place of purchase to their residence, or place of business, from their residence to their place of business or from their place of business to their residence, or to a federal firearms licensee for the purpose of sale, to or from a bona fide gunsmith, or firearms repair facility, to any police station or other location designated as a site of a bona fide “gun buy-back” program, but only if said pistol or revolver is unloaded and any ammunition for said pistol or revolver is not readily or directly accessible from the passenger compartment of such vehicle while transporting same and further provided, that in the case of a vehicle without a compartment separate from the passenger compartment, the firearm or the ammunition shall be stored in a locked container.

(b) Persons exempted by the provisions of this section from the provisions of § 11-47-8 shall have the right to carry concealed firearms everywhere within this state; provided, that this shall not be construed as giving the right to carry concealed firearms to a person transporting firearms as merchandise or as household or business goods.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 9 cases, 1973–2016 · leading case: State v. Pope, 414 A.2d 781 (R.I. 1980).

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State v. Pope, 414 A.2d 781 (R.I. 1980). · cites it 3× “1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 11-47-9 (1979 Supp.), which provides that the license requirements “shall not apply to * * * moving goods from one place of abode or business to another.”

State v. Adrian Hazard, 68 A.3d 479 (R.I. 2013). · cites it 2× “―No person shall, without a license or permit issued as provided in §§ 11- 47-11, 11-47-12 and 11-47-18, carry a pistol or revolver in any vehicle or conveyance or on or about his or her person whether visible or concealed, except in his or her dwelling house or place of…”

State v. HUY, 960 A.2d 550 (R.I. 2008). · cites it 4× “§ 11-47-8(a), which states in pertinent part: "No person shall, without a license or permit issued as provided in §§ 11-47-11, 11-47-12 and 11-47-18, carry a pistol or revolver in any vehicle or conveyance or on or about his or her person whether visible or concealed, except in…”

State v. Neary, 409 A.2d 551 (R.I. 1979). · cites it 2× “The defendants also take exception to the trial justice’s jury instructions, which, in effect, characterized the “without a license” phraseology of §11-47-8, and, further, the exemptions found in that section and §§11-47-9 and 11-47-10 as affirmative defenses, thus shifting the…”

State v. Cianci, 430 A.2d 756 (R.I. 1981). “1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 11-47-8 provided: “No person shall, without a license therefor, issued as provided in §§ 11-47-11, 11-47-12 and 11-47-18, carry a pistol or revolver in any vehicle or conveyance or on or about his person whether visible or concealed, except in his…”

State v. Keiser, 796 A.2d 471 (R.I. 2002). · cites it 2× “1956 § 11-47-8(a), which provides, "No person shall, without a license or pennit, issued as provided in §§ 11-47-11, 11-47-12 and 11-47-18, carry a pistol or revolver in any vehicle or conveyance or on or about his or her person whether visible or concealed, except in his or her…”

State v. Storms, 308 A.2d 463 (R.I. 1973). · cites it 2× “While it is in general nonrestrictive as to the right of persons generally to purchase, own, carry, transport or have in their possession or control most kinds of firearms, some of its provisions are prohibitory as to certain classes of persons, 3 while another says that no…”

State v. Reiser, 796 A.2d 471 (R.I. 2002). · cites it 2× “1956 § 11-47-8(a), which provides, “No person shall, without a license or permit, issued as provided in §§ 11-47-11, 11-47-12 and 11-47-18, carry a pistol or revolver in any vehicle or conveyance or on or about his or her person whether visible or concealed, except in his or her…”

Gendreau v. Canario, 188 F. Supp. 3d 140 (D.R.I. 2016). · cites it 2× “Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 15) is DENIED as moot in light of this Court’s decision.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.