Today, despite the snowstorm, the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 12, aka “Constitutional Carry.” The vote was 200-97 with several Democrats voting for the bill and only two Republicans voting against it. The bill will now go to Governor Sununu’s desk where he has already said he will sign it into law.
The effort to pass this bill has taken over two years. The exact same bill was passed two times previously by the full legislature only to be vetoed by former Governor Maggie Hassan. The new law ends almost 100 years of state-sanctioned discrimination against law-abiding citizens of New Hampshire.
After passing the bill twice, Democrats tried to claim the bill was being “fast tracked” through the legislature. They seemed to have complete memory losses over the previous times it was passed and all the hearings and testimony that was given over and over again. Democrats then tried to claim the law was working and shouldn’t be changed. Essentially, Democrats admit they supported the racist and discriminatory roots of the law and supported their own constituents getting abused in 2017.
New York City hoplophobe Michael Bloomberg spent money trying to kill the bill by hiring two different lobbying firms in the state. He also recently added 11 total lobbyists to his payroll. The supposed grassroots organization of Moms Demand never did have any grassroots support, they’ve always been nothing but hand puppets for Bloomberg.
The people who really made this bill happen are New Hampshire grassroots activists who have worked tirelessly to educate legislators and others about the history of the law; educate legislators and others about the abuse that occurs to this day because of the law and working together as an alliance. The Women’s Defense League of NH; Pro-Gun NH; New Hampshire Firearms Coalition and others worked behind the scenes and in the forefront to get this legislation passed.
It proves that millions of dollars and countless lies mean nothing when you have a strong grassroots network that uses facts to keep pushing until the right thing finally gets done. All of the organizations have many supporters who also helped in the passage of the bill and the legislators who pushed this were also key. Voters got sick of a Democrat in the corner office vetoing the will of the people so they voted for Governor Sununu rather than a male version of Maggie Hassan in the November election.
Sometimes the will and work of the people actually pays off. Today is one of those days.
Cross posted from NH Political Buzz