Doris Hohensee

In the unofficial transcript of Senator David Pierce’s comments opposing SB 116 – Constitutional Carry – on Thursday, January 29, the Senator said: “And there was one gentleman in particular, I didn’t get his name, he was standing on the left side of the audience, he went into Article 2-a of the NH constitution that says that “all persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state… He didn’t say it but, what he was going to say, you know, but what he was advocating for is a very strict reading of that and he’s saying that “All persons means all persons.”

That “gentleman” is Ian Underwood who readers of Granite Grok and 2 Amendment folks know well.  After reading the unofficial transcript, Ian has responded in a piece he has entitled “SB 116 for Idiots”, reprinted in its entirety below:

Read more

Today in Representative Hall, Ian Underwood presented the testimony below to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Affairs.  Eyes widened.

“Article 2A of the NH Constitution clearly states that:

All persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state.

It doesn’t say ‘some‘ persons.  It doesn’t say ‘approved‘ persons.  It doesn’t say ‘persons who don’t scare us’.  It says ‘all persons’.

A right for which you have to ask permission isn’t a right at all.  So the first point, I think, that has to be made regarding this bill is that it takes the wrong approach towards the goal sought by its sponsors.  

The right approach would be to amend the NH Constitution:  to declare that NOT all persons have the right to defend themselves, or that self-defense is not a right but a privilege, or perhaps to change the definition of ‘persons‘ to something like ‘persons we like’.  But until such a change has been made, any 5th grader can see that this bill conflicts with the NH Constitution.  It takes a constitutional scholar to miss that.

Read more