East Greenwich State Rep. Giarrusso Calls for Stricter Bomb Laws

EAST GREENWICH, RI — The discovery last month of a pressure cooker on Hopkins Hill Road in the woods in West Greenwich led police to a teen suspect, but police did not press charges. Matthew O'Shaughnessy, spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, is in charge of the investigation. He did not immediately return the Patch's calls for comment. WJAR-TV first reported the reason police have not charged anyone was due to loopholes in state law.

But Wednesday state Rep. Anthony Giarrusso (District 30, East Greenwich and West Greenwich) said he wants to fix that law and close the loopholes, so police can avoid a disaster like the Boston Marathon bombings.

“This is all about preventing a tragedy here in Rhode Island,” said Giarrusso, a Republican. “This is a difficult topic to legislate but if the current laws fail to address these new circumstances we need to update them. You cannot just arrest people for buying things that may be considered bomb-making materials like nitrogen fertilizer or pressure cookers, but we cannot ignore the fact that home-made explosive devices are being built in our state."

According to Ian O'Connor, a legislative policy analyst at the Statehouse, the pressure cooker found in West Greenwich was "constructed in a similar way to those used during the tragic Boston Marathon bombing of 2013. Thankfully, no one was hurt," he said, but "several juveniles were implicated after police tracked similar appliances to residences in East Greenwich. The incident has raised concerns from law enforcement officials about how well Rhode Island’s explosive laws protect citizens in the modern age of domestic terrorism."

Giarusso said he is researching the options.

“I have asked our legal counsel at the State House to investigate this further and work with me to develop an effective response. If new legislation is what we need to protect people in Rhode Island from these devices, for which there really is only one use, I will file it immediately and ask that the General Assembly act during this legislative session.”