Portsmouth Herald: House Went Ballistic with Gun Bills

A Portsmouth Herald editorial applauds the state Senate for defeating legislation approved by the House that would have removed “reasonable restrictions” on firearms.

The New Hampshire House went ballistic with gun legislation this past session. … All the bills are aimed at removing reasonable restrictions on where and when people can own, carry and discharge firearms. We think it’s reasonable:

• To restrict convicted felons from possessing firearms.
• To require a permit including a criminal background check to buy a weapon and carry a concealed weapon. Currently, private dealers can sell you a gun at a gun show without doing a background check.
• To allow public institutions such as colleges and universities to ban weapons from campus.
• To allow officers to stop people from bringing weapons into a courthouse.
• To prohibit carrying a loaded firearm or crossbow in a motor vehicle.
• To prohibit bringing a gun to school or to discharge a firearm near a school.
• To allow cities and towns to enforce no-fire zones in densely populated residential and recreational areas known as compact zones.
• To ban gun possession from someone under an active restraining order.
• To ban guns in the Statehouse visitors gallery.

There were bills on nearly all of these issues this past legislative session and, fortunately, the Senate rejected almost all of them.

GOP Rep: Stand Your Ground Doesn’t Go Far Enough

Last year, the New Hampshire legislature overrode Gov. Lynch’s veto of a Stand Your Ground gun law, which says a person has no duty to retreat before using deadly force.

New Hampshire law enforcement officials have renewed their opposition to the law following the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida. The law’s supporters, however, point out that unlike the Florida law, the New Hampshire version includes an exception that excludes legal protection for the “initial aggressor.”

That exception is a bone of contention for GOP state Rep. J.R. Hoell. Hoell sponsored a bill, House Bill 1423, to remove the exception. The House rejected his bill this session, but Hoell vows to continue to fight for it.

Hoell believes this exception hinders someone’s legitimate right to defend themselves.

“I agree my bill didn’t do the job but there’s got to be a way to improve this to deal with the literally hundreds of examples of physical confrontation where deadly force can be warranted,” Hoell told The Lobby during a telephone interview. “The key point is what are the elements that escalate an argument into a fight that can end in a fatality. I think we are still denying people their rights so I’ll keep working on this.”

N.H. Police: Gun Law Invites Escalation in Violence

New Hampshire law enforcement officials have renewed their opposition to the state’s stand-your-ground gun law following the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida. The law, which was passed by the Republican-dominated legislature over Governor Lynch’s veto, allows anyone who believes they are threatened to use deadly force even if they could safely retreat.

Claremont Police Chief Alexander Scott said he had not yet encountered a scenario in New Hampshire where the stand-your-ground law played a direct role, but “it’s only a matter of time.”

Scott said he and the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police “lobbied very strongly” against the law last year, arguing that Florida had seen a “remarkable” increase in violent confrontations since its law went into effect.

“We feared, and I think rightly so, that the same increase will impact New Hampshire,” said Scott, who said the so-called “castle doctrine,” in which a homeowner can use deadly force defending his own home, evolved from British common law formed over hundreds of years.

“Extending that out to the streets is an invitation to an escalation in violence,” Scott said.

Today in Concord: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

It was another wild and woolly day in Concord.

The good: the House killed a bill that would have eliminated compulsory school attendance (claiming parents have a “natural right” not to educate their children). The bad: so-called “right-to-work” legislation for state employees passed — though 128 lawmakers opposed the bill. The ugly: two more bills weakening or eliminating gun regulations passed. One allows anyone to carry a firearm, open or concealed, without a license. The other permits rifles and shotguns in vehicles with an attached magazine or clip.

The bills will have to be approved by the Senate and signed by the Governor before they can become law.

HB 194 (as amended): Allows rifles and shotguns in vehicles with a cartridge in a magazine or clip attached to the gun. Passed 204-110. Moves to Senate for consideration.

HB 219 (as amended):  Restricts rulemaking authority of state Board of Education and establishes a legislative oversight committee. Passed 214-110. Moves to Senate for consideration.

HR 383 (as amended): Provides so-called “right-to-work” for state employees. Passed 212-128. Moves to Senate for consideration.

HB 446 (as amended): Eliminates requirement for numerous occupational licenses, including those for landscape architects, court reporters, barbers, cosmetologists, massage therapists and fish and game guides. Killed 116-214.

HB 475: Increases the penalty for violations of the consumer protection act. Tabled.

HB 536 (as amended): Eliminates requirement for a license to carry a firearm, either openly or concealed. Passed: 193-122. Moves to Senate for consideration.

HB 595: Eliminates compulsory school attendance and repeals laws regulating home schooling. Killed 82-263.

HB 628: (as amended). Requires law enforcement officers to document complaints involving searches by TSA. Passed 188-136. Moves to Senate for consideration.

CACR 8: Constitutional amendment eliminating requirement for the state to fund public schools and allowing state funding of religious schools. Sent back to committee.

CACR 11: Constitutional amendment to commission judges for renewable five-year terms. Sent back to committee.

Concord Monitor: “Guns on Campus Is a Maniacal Idea”

When the New Hampshire House returns in January, they’ll take up HB 334, a bill that would prohibit the state’s community colleges and state universities from enacting any regulation restricting gun use and possession. The Concord Monitor states the obvious: “guns on campus is a maniacal idea.”

The year 2011 is shaping up to be the Year of the Gun in New Hampshire, and citizens are none the safer for it.

One’s college years tend to be volatile. Hearts are broken, hopes dashed by bad grades, depression not uncommon. Suicides on campus, we fear, would increase if the bans are lifted, as would homicides and accidental shootings.

The House should see the committee’s proposal for what it is: an extreme measure that would make campuses less safe.

NH GOP Rep: Guns on Campus Will Prevent Violence

The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee recently voted to recommend passage of HB 334, a bill that would prohibit local governments or state agencies from enacting any ordinances or regulations regarding gun use and possession.

In response, officials from Great Bay Community College in Portsmouth wrote letters to their representatives emphasizing the dangers in eliminating current restrictions on gun possession on college campuses. They urged the representatives to amend the bill to allow the state’s community college and universities to continue to set gun policies for their campuses.

GOP state Rep. Mark Proulx was incensed by their “ridiculous” objections and fired off an email, first reported by the Huffington Post, with the claim that allowing guns on campus will prevent violent incidents.

“For people that are supposed to be so smart, you never learn from history,” Proulx wrote from his state email account. “The history lesson you should have learned is that gun free zones become killing zones*. These killing zones are the places that crazy people who are looking to make a name for themselves go.”

“Not to mention when these incidents happen there were people there that could have stopped the killing early on but could not,” he wrote. “They could not because they were following some ridiculous law or rule that would not allow them to carry the weapon they wear every day.”

* Proulx was quoting the historian Rep. Al Baldasaro who testified in favor of repealing the gun ban in the New Hampshire Statehouse.

Gun Bill Okays Concealed Firearms Without Permit

New Hampshire residents should not be required to obtain a permit to carry a loaded, concealed firearm. So says the New Hampshire House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, which voted to recommend passage of a bill making a “license to carry” voluntary.

HB 536 would allow anyone, except convicted felons and the mentally ill, to carry a concealed weapon without a license. It would also ease restrictions on the buying and selling of firearms.

It’s a sign of the times that this was a “compromise” version. The original version of the bill also legalized blackjacks, brass knuckles and slingshots, and ended the ban on guns in courtrooms. It made it a crime for the police to “interfere” with the right to carry.

“We believe the Constitution is an individual license to carry,” said James Wheeler, treasurer of the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition. “Citizens shouldn’t be required to ask for permission from the government before they exercise their constitutional rights.”

Sunapee Police Chief David Cahill said the bill eliminates the careful balance that current law strikes on concealed weapons permits.

“To think that government is taking away one of your Second Amendment rights through permitting, I think is ridiculous,” said Cahill, who just ended a term as president of the N.H. Association of Chiefs of Police.

“Going without a permit to carry just opens the door for all those people who wouldn’t have been able to get one,” he said.

Rep. Blankenbeker: Unions Better Not F#%k With Me!!!

Remember Rep. Lynne Blankenbeker, the New Hampshire state Representative and Navy officer who expressed doubt about Osama bin Laden’s death? She’s making news again, this time with a joke about taking out her labor critics: 

From: Blankenbeker, Lynne 
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2011 3:56 PM
To: Vaillancourt, Steve
Cc: ~All Representatives
Subject: News from the war (almost)
...
Today I got to be the gunner which was fun. The .50cal is quite a gun!
I was never ascared of the unions but they better not F#%k with me
again!!! Just saying.
...
Love,
Lynne

Sent from my iPhone

Legislature Approves Expansion of Deadly Force Law

Yesterday, the legislature approved a bill that would broaden New Hampshire’s deadly force law by making it legal for anyone to kill in self-defense “anywhere he or she has a right to be.”

The bill approved Wednesday is built on the Castle Doctrine, which says a person has no duty to retreat from intruders before using deadly force. The legislation also would expand citizens’ rights to use deadly force in public or anywhere they have a right to be — known as the Stand Your Ground principle. More than two dozen states have passed either the Castle Doctrine, Stand Your Ground or both.

What could possibly go wrong?

In Ohio, prosecutors say their state’s Castle Doctrine is increasingly being manipulated to help murder suspects avoid taking responsibility for their crimes. In one case, a man stole a dealer’s drugs, then shot and killed the dealer when he broke a window in the man’s car attempting to retrieve his goods. Defense attorneys argued the man acted lawfully. A jury convicted him of reckless homicide rather than murder.

The bill now goes to Gov. Lynch for his signature. Five years ago, Lynch vetoed a similar measure.

NRA: The NH Legislature’s “Dangerous Delusion”

How radical is the Granite State’s Tea Party/Free State/GOP-dominated legislature? So radical they make the National Rifle Association look moderate. That’s right. The organization that once referred to federal agents as “jack-booted government thugs” is appalled by the New Hampshire legislature and schools them on the Constitution’s division of powers between the states and the federal government.

First of all, however one might feel about federal gun control law, it obviously applies in New Hampshire. To ignore that fact is to entertain a dangerous delusion that could lead to very serious consequences…

NH House Says No to Barring Guns from Schools

Yesterday afternoon, I had the following text message exchange with my thirteen year old son: 

Him: Schools on lockdown.
Me: Whats up?
Him: Apparently a psychopath is in the school.
Him According to someone in my homeroom who was just downstairs someone has a gun.

It turns out there wasn’t an armed psychopath in the school, just a man exercising his “natural right” to walk by a school full of children with a rifle in one hand, a handgun strapped to his leg, and a belt of ammunition slung over his shoulder.

The man did not violate any New Hampshire state laws. If he had been a psychopath intent on committing mayhem, he would not have been in violation of state law until he pulled the trigger.

The Gun Free School Zones Act is a federal law that prohibits possession of firearms within 1000 feet of a school. The New Hampshire House considers this an unconstitutional intrusion. 240 state representatives voted in favor of HB 125, a bill that would bar the enforcement of federal gun laws on New Hampshire-made weapons.

This is lunacy.

A State Gun? Why Didn’t We Think of That?

New Hampshire legislators take notice:

Utah lawmakers are moving ahead with a bill designating the Browning 1911 pistol as the official state gun.