Today, the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee in the New Hampshire House of Representatives will hear testimony on a gun control bill that has been presented by Democrats but written by a gun control organization from California. For some reason, Representative Katherine Rogers (who also pushes New York-style gun control via billionaire Michael Bloomberg and pleaded guilty to assaulting an elderly election worker) believes a California organization knows more about New Hampshire than Granite Staters. She is seeking to push legislation that requires background checks on private citizens who are simply transferring firearms to another person, including when instructors teach actual gun safety.
The bill, House Bill 109 (HB 109) is a recycled version of the same “universal background check” bill that Rogers and other hoplophobic Democrats have been trying to push for the past several sessions. There was House Bill 650 as well as House Bill 1589, House Bill 201 and now House Bill 109, all the same verbiage with a few minor changes. The Women’s Defense League of New Hampshire provided a side-by-side comparison of the three bills (you can view the entire comparison here):
Each bill was handily “shot down” in the house, including HB 201. There were even two anti-gun Democrats who voted against this legislation out of committee because it was that bad. The Criminal Justice Committee should see this bill for what is it – a ban on private sales and transfers – and vote “Inexpedient to Legislate.” HB 109 is another gun control bill that seeks to turn law-abiding citizens into criminals.
Who wrote the bill?
The organization that wrote the actual legislation is called “Law Center for the Prevention of Gun Violence (LCPGV).” They are lawyers from California (who recently teamed up with Mark Kelly’s gun control organization) that have been pushing gun control across the country.
The bill makes it more difficult for law-abiding Granite Staters to get gun safety training as well as to purchase a firearm if it happens to be from a private sale. New Hampshire is considered one of the “safest places in the world” so why on Earth would anyone want to make it less safe?
What does House Bill 109 do?
This bill does NOT close any “gun show loopholes” because none exist. This bill does NOT close any “internet sales” loopholes because none exist. There are already federal laws on the books that dictate commercial firearm sales. There are already federal laws on the books that dictate internet sales. In each case, a person who is in the business of selling firearms must be licensed and conduct background checks. If a person purchases a firearm over the internet from a different state, that firearm must be sent to a federally licensed firearm dealer who then conducts a background check. It is against federal law for anyone to knowingly sell a firearm to a prohibited person, whether that sale is commercial or private. It is against federal law for a prohibited person to attempt to purchase a firearm.
Even private sellers in New Hampshire require a valid pistol/revolver license, which only those who are legally able to purchase and possess firearms are able to receive. One of the reasons is because it is also a crime in the State of New Hampshire to sell a firearm to a prohibited person:
159:7 Sales to Felons. – No person shall sell, deliver, or otherwise transfer a pistol, revolver or any other firearm, to a person who has been convicted, in any jurisdiction, of a felony. Whoever violates the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a class B felony.
Democrats are seeking a failed solution to a problem that doesn’t exist in New Hampshire. They are lawmakers who do not know the current laws but are pushing for new laws. There is neither a gun violence nor a violent crime issue in New Hampshire yet these lawmakers are proposing legislation from a California organization whose sole purpose is purportedly to “curb gun violence.” The only thing this legislation “curbs” is Granite Staters ability to seek gun safety training.
What this legislation does is turn private sales into commercial sales but also includes the private transfers and exchanges of firearms. This includes instructors who are teaching gun safety classes and use their own firearms to do so. The bill will intentionally hurt those who seek firearm safety training. The sponsors of the bill are lying when they say it doesn’t affect transfers for training purposes. From the bill [emphasis added]:
“Commercial sale” means 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.
In reality, this is more legislation that seeks to infringe upon the fundamental human right of Granite Staters to protect themselves. The truth is these Democrats and their out-of-state gun control organizations don’t seem to care that the legislation they push actually hurts law-abiding citizens while enabling criminals. Criminals don’t obey they laws that currently exist, only law-abiding citizens do.
These legislators don’t seem to grasp that this gun control legislation will turn law-abiding citizens INTO criminals. This legislation makes it so that the “gun safety” these legislators purportedly care about, will essentially cease to exist because it will be practically impossible for anyone to get actual gun safety training.
