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Rhode Island Suppressor Laws

Suppressors are prohibited in Rhode Island. Civilian ownership is illegal under state law regardless of federal compliance.

Reviewed by Diego Lopez, Head of Enforcement · Last reviewed August 21, 2026

Prohibited
Ownership Status
Prohibited
Hunting Status
Felony
Possession Penalty
42
States Where Legal

August 5 NFA Ruling

Updated August 21, 2026

A federal court ruled that the government cannot enforce certain NFA registration requirements against the parties covered by that case. It is not a repeal of the NFA, it is not nationwide, and it does not change state law.

Rhode Island: the ruling changes nothing here. A federal court order limiting ATF enforcement does not create a right to possess an item this state bans.

Read how this may affect you →

Current Law

Rhode Island’s statute is short enough to quote whole. R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-47-20: “It shall be unlawful within this state to manufacture, sell, purchase, or possess any muffler, silencer, or device for deadening or muffling the sound of a firearm when discharged; provided, however, that law enforcement officers utilizing said devices while acting within the scope of their official duties, as tactical teams and under the direct supervision of the police chief or the colonel of the state police or their designee, shall not be in violation of this section. Violations of this section shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one year and one day.”

Four verbs. Transport and use are not among them.

The Penalty

This is the one to get right, because almost every secondary source gets it wrong. The statute sets a mandatory minimum of one year and one day and states no maximum at all.

Any “up to ten years” or “up to one year” figure you find elsewhere is not in the enacted text. We are not going to publish a maximum, because Rhode Island did not write one.

Because the minimum exceeds one year, the offense is a felony by operation of § 11-1-2, which declares any offense punishable by more than a year to be a felony. No fine is specified.

Who Is Exempt, and Who Is Not

Exactly one, and it is narrow: law enforcement officers acting within the scope of official duties, as tactical teams, and under the direct supervision of the police chief or the colonel of the state police or their designee. All three conditions, not any one of them.

There is no military or National Guard exemption. There is no dealer or manufacturer exemption, which is notable given that the statute bans manufacture outright. There is no film exemption.

The chapter’s general exemption section, § 11-47-9, does not help. It opens “The provisions of § 11-47-8 shall not apply to” and is confined to the carrying offense. It does not reach § 11-47-20.

Alternatives

If you want to own and use suppressors, your options include:

  • Move to one of the 42 states where suppressors are legal
  • Use suppressors while visiting legal states (with proper arrangements)
  • Support legislative efforts to change Rhode Island law

Legislative Outlook

P.L. 2024 ch. 320 and ch. 321, both effective June 25, 2024, are officially titled “law enforcement officers – allow to use silencers.”

The official amendment markup tells a story worth knowing: the law enforcement proviso is the only new language, and nothing was struck. Two things follow. The four verbs and the “one year and one day” penalty are pre-2024 and unchanged. And before June 25, 2024, § 11-47-20 contained no exemption of any kind, not even for police.

Key Takeaway

Rhode Island bans manufacture, sale, purchase, and possession of a suppressor under § 11-47-20, with a mandatory minimum of one year and one day and no statutory maximum. The sole exemption is for law enforcement tactical teams, added in June 2024.