Second Amendment fuels gun-related bills in NH
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May 26—CONCORD — President Joe Biden said he is "sick and tired" of losing fights with the gun lobby over restricting firearm rights, but that's a common outcome at the State House here as well.
Tuesday's massacre of 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, already has revived calls on Capitol Hill to bring back a ban on assault weapons and to pursue other checks on unbridled gun sales.
During the 2022 legislative session in Concord, lawmakers tackled more than a half dozen gun-related bills, which ran the gamut from strict gun control to expanding Second Amendment freedoms.
With a few hiccups, the Republican-led Legislature came down squarely in support of firearms owners.
The signature win for gun rights supporters was legislation (HB 1178) that prevents the state from enforcing any federal law or executive order imposing further restrictions on "firearms, ammunition, magazines or the ammunition feeding devices, firearm components, firearms supplies, or knives."
The bill was a response to Biden's executive orders and his calls for Congress to further crack down on privately assembled and untraceable weapons — so-called "ghost guns."
House Democratic Leader David Cote of Nashua charged the bill will "invite drug traffickers" into the state and likely couldn't survive a court challenge.
"Preventing New Hampshire law enforcement and judges from helping to stop the sale and creation of illegal weapons like ghost guns, cracking down on firearm trafficking, or enacting programs to reduce gun violence in our streets is not only alarming but likely unconstitutional," Cote said.
"This bill exposes the state to costly lawsuits and the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal aid."
House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee Chairman Daryl Abbas, R-Salem, denied any federal money for New Hampshire would be put at risk.
Rep. John Burt, R-Goffstown, a leading gun rights advocate, said the Legislature approved analogous language on other issues from immigration to vaccine policy.
With voting along party lines, this bill moved forward and is headed to the desk of Gov. Chris Sununu.
On the day of the Texas shooting, Rep. Amy Bradley, D-Manchester, condemned New Hampshire lawmakers for inaction here.
Bradley was responding to the May 14 shooting at a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket, where another 18-year-old man shot and killed 10 Black shoppers.
"The Granite State is not immune to violence and bigotry. This could have happened here in New Hampshire. Mass shootings have happened 197 other times this year in America," Bradley wrote in an op-ed commentary in the Union Leader.
After several years of pushing for it, supportive lawmakers also won an expansion of the right to carry a concealed gun without a permit (HB 1636). Loaded revolvers will be allowed on snowmobiles and off-highway recreational vehicles.
The big stumble for pro-gun groups came over legislation (HB 307) that would have nullified any municipal ordinances that limit the "carrying and use" of guns within city or town limits.
House and Senate negotiators couldn't come together on compromise language and agreed to revisit the issue next year.
Sen. Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, said the state preemption over "use" would nullify local regulations that prohibit weapons in parks or playgrounds.
House leaders agreed with the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition that gun supporters were better off sticking with the current state law on the topic than accepting the Senate change.
"While it is important to possess, if you cannot practice, possession is nothing more than a hobby of collecting carefully machined pieces of metal," the NHFC wrote in a recent email blast.
In January, the state Senate deferred a House-passed exception (HB 196) to the crime of criminal threatening for someone who brandishes a gun to chase away someone who is trespassing.
The Senate sent that bill to interim study, which meant the issue must start all over as a new bill in 2023.
Gun control fails
GOP leaders in the House and Senate were unified when it came to summarily killing several gun control measures, including:
—Commercial background checks (HB 1668): The late Rep. Katherine Rogers, D-Concord, pursued this one, which would have required that anyone selling a gun, even in a private sale, make sure the buyer was not a convicted felon.
—Expanding gun discharge penalties (HB 1310). This would have made it a violation for a hunter in pursuit of game to shoot at a building, livestock or pets without an owner's permission. The second offense would carry the loss of a hunting license for life.
—Gun-free zones at polls (HB 1096): This would have made it illegal to openly carry a gun within 100 feet of a polling place. Opponents maintained it was written to prohibit campaign literature containing images of candidates carrying weapons.
—Gun display at funerals, parades (HB 1151): This would have created a new misdemeanor for a person who displays a deadly weapon at parades, funerals, vigils, rallies and demonstrations. The measure exempted military guards at funerals and guns displayed in racks on trucks from the ban, but opponents said it could still be used to harass law-abiding attendees.
