A few days ago, we celebrated the near-death experience of HB1711. This incremental red flag law would open a door, or get the camel’s nose under the tent, to more intrusive versions in future legislative sessions. It was tabled in the NH Senate until Thursday, when ” Republican” Rep. Terry Roy attached it to another bill.
The legislation is meant to appear harmless and purposeful, keeping firearms from the hands of mentally unfit people. As we noted on Tuesday, this is not a bad idea unless, in the course of the exercise, you risk infringing on the rights of innocent, law-abiding citizens. Red Flag laws are preemptive. There is no middle ground. And pretending this legisaltion has property and due process rights is not even a positive. It is an admission that this is what Red Flag law becomes and HB1711 is little more than a foot in the door.
The NH State Senate, surprisingly, slowed its roll until Rep. Roy, a prime sponsor, Dr. Frankensetiend that dead body, bringing it back to life.
Roy, a suspended police officer in Massachusetts, lost his carry license for allegedly lying on the application questionnaire (HT—NHFC). Now he’s a state Rep from Deerfield pushing Red Flag laws. His HRA has never been below 92% based on a quick review of recent scorecards, so this persistence puzzles. As former law enforcement denied a carry permit, you’d think he’d have a sensitivity to the vagaries of legislative interference with the natural right to self-defense.
Nope. Let me guess. One of your constituents asked you to submit this bill.
Sorry, that won’t do. HB1711 is his baby, and he’s not ready to let it go. That makes it incumbent on us to ensure it gets tabled or dies some other more permanent death.
I will update this post as soon as I know to which bill it has been attached (I am waiting for a response).
[Update] SB476 is the bill to which the text of HB1711 has been attached!
SB476 makes “a capital appropriation to the department of corrections toward the replacement of the New Hampshire state prison for men and authorizing the state to report mental health data for firearms background check purposes and providing for processes for confiscation of firearms following certain mental health-related court proceedings and for relief from mental health-related firearms disabilities.”