On Friday, the New Hampshire House held several floor votes on anti-gun bills. Thanks to the strong support of NRA members and Second Amendment supporters, the bills were defeated and will not move forward this session. NRA-ILA would like to thank all those representatives who defended the Second Amendment for law-abiding citizens in the Granite State.
House Bill 32 would have expanded the “safe-school zone” to 1,000 feet surrounding any school or school bus and adds a criminal penalty to any gun owner carrying a firearm within that zone. This bill would have ensnared law-abiding citizens and would not have advanced public safety.
House Bill 59 would have required background checks for the commercial sale of firearms, already mandated under federal law. This duplicative and unnecessary legislation was simply a first attempt to enact so-called “universal background checks” for the purchases of firearms in New Hampshire. The bill would have done nothing to improve public safety.
House Bill 106 would have allowed ex parte orders to suspend Second Amendment rights without adequate due process. Further, if the order is vacated after an individual surrenders their firearms, that individual would have had to go to court to have their property returned, unlike when the court wrongfully took them away. Constitutional rights should only be restricted with sufficient due process of law. Due process limits restrictions on constitutional rights to only serious convictions and adjudications that provide procedural protections to the accused, which results in more reliable proceedings.
Again, thank you to NRA Members and Second Amendment supporters who contacted their state representatives in strong opposition to these anti-gun bills.