Rhode Island gun owners and firearms sellers asked a federal judge on Sept. 21, 2026, to strike the state's 10-round magazine ban without a trial. In Ocean State Tactical LLC v. State of Rhode Island, the plaintiffs moved for summary judgment and urged the court to invalidate the large-capacity magazine law as a violation of the Second Amendment. They want judgment on the papers. They want the ban gone.
The motion is built on a single, concrete claim. Plaintiffs argue that later Supreme Court decisions have undercut Rhode Island's magazine restriction. That is why they did not ask for a trial date. Summary judgment is the procedure for a case in which the material facts are not in genuine dispute and the Constitution supplies the answer. They put that answer before the district court and asked the judge to apply it.
Ocean State Tactical LLC filed alongside other gun owners and sellers. The defendant is the State of Rhode Island. The law at issue forbids magazines holding more than 10 rounds. Rhode Island treats those magazines as large-capacity. The plaintiffs asked the court to strike the prohibition outright. They are not seeking a carve-out, a license, or a delay. They are seeking a judgment that the ban cannot stand.
The dispute already has a First Circuit chapter. Related proceedings were docketed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit as No. 23-01072. The live filing now sits with a federal trial judge. Plaintiffs argue that later Supreme Court decisions have undercut the 10-round cap. They asked that court to apply those decisions and enter judgment without a trial.
A magazine cap is still a ban. Rhode Island chose the number 10 and made anything above that line unlawful. The Second Amendment does not yield to a round-count ceiling. It is the supreme law of the land, and a state statute does not outrank it. Plaintiffs are demanding that hierarchy in court. The Constitution comes first. The magazine law comes second.
Federal judges swear an oath to the Constitution, not to a state firearms statute. The Sept. 21 motion tests that oath. Granting summary judgment would strike Rhode Island's large-capacity magazine ban now. Denying it would leave the 10-round limit in place while the case continues. The plaintiffs named the law, pointed to the later Supreme Court decisions that undercut it, and asked for judgment without a trial.
What happens next is a ruling on that motion. Ocean State Tactical LLC v. State of Rhode Island is awaiting that decision. The right to keep and bear arms is not a privilege Rhode Island may meter at 10 rounds, and it does not pause for a trial the Constitution has already made unnecessary.
References
- https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/politics/courts/2026/09/23/gun-owners-ask-court-to-shoot-down-high-capacity-ban/91892568007/
- https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-ca1-23-01072/pdf/USCOURTS-ca1-23-01072-0.pdf
- https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/63408015/ocean-state-tactical-llc-v-state-of-rhode-island/
- https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2026/09/23/rhode-island-gun-owners-and-sellers-urge-judge-to-strike-down-magazine-ban-n1233911