Gun control backers urge Sununu to veto federal preemption bill
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Jun. 24—CONCORD — Gun control advocates are pressuring Gov. Chris Sununu to veto a controversial bill that would prevent New Hampshire law enforcement agencies from enforcing federal firearm laws.
But supporters maintain the legislation (HB 1178) headed to Sununu's desk soon was amended in a way that should allow state and local police to cooperate with federal authorities in many cases.
Republican legislative leaders have pursued this reform since President Joe Biden took office. A similar bill failed in the House in 2021.
The proposal makes clear the state will not enforce any federal firearms law, rule or regulation that is not consistent with state law.
State Rep. Robert Lynn, R-Windham, said the Biden administration seems intent on rolling back Second Amendment protections, as seen with executive orders banning gun bump stocks and so-called ghost guns.
"The net effect of these proposals is to emasculate the Second Amendment through the death of a thousand cuts," Lynn said of the president's proposals.
Bump stocks allow semi-automatic weapons to fire continuously. Ghost guns are weapons typically built privately from scratch without identification numbers that enable police to track them.
Gun control supporters said, however, this bill goes far beyond Biden's new gun control measures.
As written, it would apply to existing federal laws on firearm use if state laws are silent on the topic, they said.
"New Hampshire has some of the barest state laws in the country and this would be ceding to the federal government," said Sam Levy, senior counsel for Everytown for Gun Safety, a national gun control advocacy group.
For example, Levy said New Hampshire is the only state that expresses it's legal under state law for adults to possess guns on the grounds of a public school.
The federal Gun-Free School Zones Act makes it a federal crime for adults to possess and carry weapons within 1,000 feet of a school.
More school cases
Andy Pelosi, executive director of the Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus, said New Hampshire traditionally has had a very low number of gun incidents around schools, but 11 cases were investigated in 2020-2021.
"Does Governor Sununu really want local law enforcement officials to stand down when someone brings a gun to a school campus?" Pelosi asked.
Jim O'Shaughnessy, a lawyer who represents many school districts, noted that in 2018 Sununu said he supported the federal law that restricts gun possession near schools.
Lynn pointed out the legislation allows the state to cooperate with federal officials on any case if it has a "reasonable suspicion" the target has also committed a state crime or broken a different federal law unrelated to firearms use.
"We have carefully amended this bill and sought consensus, which is why the Attorney General's Office and the National Rifle Association are all on board with it," Lynn said.
The bill doesn't go as far as many Second Amendment activists wanted.
Several of them urged a state Senate committee in April to strike the "reasonable suspicion" clause in Section Two of the bill.
"Passing this with Section Two would be a waste of time, energy and paperwork," said Elliot Axelman, a gun rights advocate.
The Senate rejected that change and instead amended the bill to also make it clear the judicial branch could share with federal officials its database on domestic violence convictions.
The House agreed to that change.
State Police Capt. Victor Muzzi, head of the justice information bureau, had expressed concern about whether the new law would conflict with the state's Gun Line, which shares information with the federal criminal background check system.
"Our concern is that an unintended consequence may fall on our work," Muzzi said.
The final bill provided no specific carveout for the state's gun line.
Zandra Rice Hawkins, with the left-leaning Granite State Progress, said the bill could end up costing law enforcement agencies, because the federal government could choose not to award discretionary grants to states that do not fully cooperate with them.
A gun safety bill pending on Capitol Hill contains $750 million for states that have crisis intervention programs and additional money to support treatment of adults who have threatened gun violence and suffer from mental illness.
