On September 11, 2001, the United States of America was attacked. Nearly 3,000 innocent people left their homes that morning expecting an ordinary Tuesday and never returned. Firefighters climbed stairwells they would never climb back down. Police officers, paramedics, military personnel, and ordinary citizens ran toward danger while thousands desperately tried to escape it. Passengers…
Peter Neronha Turned a Gun Crimes Report into a Political Ad
Peter Neronha’s 2025 Gun Crimes Report does not read like a sober public accounting. It opens by invoking two horrific shootings, says the trauma “cannot be quantified,” dismisses whether gun crimes rose or fell as “almost a moot point,” and then pivots straight into…
Introduction Over the years, testimony and discussion at firearms-related hearings in Rhode Island have frequently relied on a wide range of statistics drawn from multiple sources, often producing inconsistent or conflicting conclusions. In February 2026, Para Bellum Provisions—working in coordination with a Rhode Island attorney—initiated a formal effort to establish a clear and factual understanding…
Rally days can feel like a lot if you have never been to one. The goal of this post is to make it simple so you know when to show up, where to park, what happens when you walk in, and how the testimony process usually works. On our biggest days, we ask people to…
Speaking at the State House can feel intimidating, especially when your testimony is limited to two minutes. The good news is that with a clear structure, basic research, and a little rehearsal, two minutes is enough time to make a meaningful impact. In committee hearings, public testimony is generally allowed on the bills on the…
If you care about a bill in Rhode Island, written testimony is one of the most direct ways to influence what happens next. The Rhode Island General Assembly accepts public testimony on bills, and committees review that input during hearings. You can testify in person, but written testimony is often the easiest and most practical…
After reading my last article, you may have gone out and bought a Baofeng for emergency communications. But you realize that you can’t talk to anybody unless they are within a mile or two of you. Most likely that is because you are using the standard antennas, and you live in an area with a…
The two main purposes of a shelter are to provide protection from the elements (wind, rain, snow, sun, heat, cold, etc.) and to provide a place to hide (from people or animals). Some shelters are proven to be better than others at each task, while others offer well rounded protection for both needs, but not…
Can you get from your current location back home without using a GPS? What if your regular route is blocked off and you need to go around? And worse, what if you can’t use your car at all? Pretty much anybody can use the Maps app on their phone to follow a GPS-created route from…
A discussion on emergency communications.
The power just went out. Your computer doesn’t work. Landline phones are out (who still has those anyways?) Cellular phone towers will last anywhere from hours to days before their backups run out. Do you have a plan to get information, or a way to contact somebody to ask for…
There are many reasons we may have to leave our location, wherever we may be, in a matter of minutes. There could be a hurricane bearing down and we don’t have hours to pack. Or the damn breaks and we are about to get flooded. On the darker side, there could be a terrorist attack…
Our Rhode Island government is very antagonistic towards our gun rights. Many of us have known this for a long time, some of us are just learning how bad it is over the last year, and some people still don’t know how bad it is. How many people don’t know that they are committing a…