Bill Analysis
H8081 allows carry permit authorities to access expunged criminal records when evaluating permit applications – meaning a conviction that was legally cleared from your record can still be used to deny you a carry permit.
The Key Change
The bill amends § 12-1.3-4 (Effect of expungement of records) to add carry permit applicants and the law enforcement agencies that issue permits under §§ 11-47-11 and 11-47-18 to the list of entities permitted to access otherwise sealed expungement records. Under current law, expunged records are off-limits to those authorities. Under H8081, a police chief or the AG’s office reviewing a carry permit application could pull and consider convictions the applicant had legally erased. The companion bill in the Senate is S3108.
What It Means for Gun Owners
Expungement exists because the legislature decided certain past offenses should not follow a person forever. H8081 carves an exception for gun owners specifically: your record gets expunged for every purpose except carry permit decisions. A Rhode Islander who completed the expungement process in good faith, believing their record was clean, could still be denied a permit based on that expunged conviction. The bill applies to both city/town permits (§ 11-47-11) and AG permits (§ 11-47-18).
Email and Petition
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