New Hampshire: “Universal” Background Check Bill Scheduled for Committee Hearing Tomorrow

Tomorrow, House Bill 201, a bill which would require expanded background checks for all firearm sales and transfers, is scheduled for a hearing in the House Criminal Justice Committee at 1:00 p.m. in LOB Room 204.  If enacted, HB 201, sponsored by state Representative Katherine Rogers (D-Merrimack), would require individuals to appear before a licensed firearm dealer to request a criminal background check prior to transferring a firearm, absent limited and vague exceptions.  The firearm dealer would also be required to create a record of each sale.  This flawed legislation is being pushed by an out-of-state anti-gun group who is trying to impose their misguided policies on the law-abiding gun owners of New Hampshire.  

It is vital that you contact the House Criminal Justice Committee members with your strong opposition to this bill!  Please click the “Take Action” button below to contact the committee members!

In HB 201, a “commercial sale” is defined as a sale, transfer, or exchange of a firearm that takes place at, or on the curtilage of, a gun show or pursuant to an offer to sell, buy, transfer, or exchange a firearm that took place at a gun show, or pursuant to an advertisement, posting, listing, or display.”  This vague definition could encompass all private sales and transfers of firearms. 

HB 201, like many other gun control schemes, is a step towards the full registration of firearms.  According to a January 2013 report from the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice, the effectiveness of “universal background checks” depends on requiring gun registration.  In other words, this bill is unenforceable because the only way the government could fully enforce such a requirement would be to mandate the registration of all firearms in private possession -- a requirement that has been prohibited by federal law since 1986.

Once again, please click the “Take Action” button above to contact the House Criminal Justice Committee members in opposition to this deeply flawed legislation.