Senate Republicans Use Preemption Law Fix to Make Matters Worse.
After the 2024 elections resulted in a Republican Supermajority in the NH State Senate, I was hopeful the extra numbers might offset the typical asinine behavior of the caucus. Sure, a Democrat majority Senate is never something you want, but a Republican Majority Senate is the second-worst thing we could expect.
Put another way, the upper chamber is always a threat to liberty, and having Republicans in charge can lead to false hope. And so it has.
The Republican Senate harpooned an excellent campus carry bill that would have forced taxpayer-funded schools to behave like the rest of the public space universe. A simple, clear cut Second Amendment right, properly exercised, undermined by a caucus that can pass anything it wants at any time but chooses to deny you the right to lawfully carry without consequence if you found yourself on a UNH campus.
And maybe it’s the water, because the same Super Majority took what was another simple, clear-cut, short-worded piece of legislation to fix loopholes in the states’ preemptions law and made it worse.
JR Hoell from the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition explains it like this.
“After the house had finished up for the day on May 14th, and the senate had come back from recess in a late session, AND while no one was watching at 9pm at night, the Republican senators, led by the Senate President (Carson), turned a great pro-gun bill that would have fixed the loopholes in our state preemption law, into (Debra) Altschiller’s dream legislation. The amendment adopted by the senate will let the agencies set their own policies via rules and not require them to use statutes.
“I cannot think of a worse anti-gun bill to put forward: Allowing bureaucrats to set regulatory policy with effectively no oversight by the legislature is a complete disaster. The worst part is, it is my understanding that a major gun group that has national offices outside of New Hampshire was complicit with making these changes. I hope that group does what it needs to do, to clean up this mess.”
With Republicans like these, who needs Democrats?
And remember, that body has extra Republicans in it who are proving inadequate to the challenge of not turning into RINO herd animals desperately trying to appease some mysterious establishment. You know them. Donors, lobbyists, State Capitol do-not-rock-the-boat types, frequently misnamed “leadership.” They act as if … If we do this crap, real Democrats will be as accommodating when they’re running the show.
Pro Tip: No, never, but this is how you end up with Dems in charge, and I’m not sure if you’ve been paying attention, but actual Republicans are looking for representatives with a spine who stand across the mushy middle yelling stop.
This, and other nonsense, is how you get a primary that will get us a lot of whining about unity and inter-party civil war, none of which would happen if you voted like a Republican instead of some neo-progressive Concord fixture.
Any inference that legislative offices can or should have rule-making authority over self-defense tools is pretty damn awful.
We went from this (good):
II. Upon the effective date of this section, all [
municipal] ordinances, rules, and regulations of a political subdivision or agency not authorized under paragraph I relative to the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting, taxation, or other matter pertaining to firearms, firearm components, ammunition, firearms supplies, stun guns, Tasers, pepper spray devices, [or] knives, or other self-defense tools shall be null and void.
I-a. To the extent consistent with federal law, the general court of New Hampshire shall have exclusive authority and jurisdiction to make laws and delegate authority to adopt rules, regulations, and policies regarding the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting, or other matters relating to firearms, firearm components, ammunition, firearms supplies, stun guns, Tasers, pepper spray devices, knives, or other self-defense tools, by state employees or on state property.
I-b. All rules, regulations, and policies adopted under any authority delegated by the general court pursuant to this section shall be adopted pursuant to RSA 541-A.
I-c. No rule, regulation, or policy adopted or instituted by an executive branch agency regarding the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting, or other matters relating to firearms, firearm components, ammunition, firearms supplies, stun guns, Tasers, pepper spray devices, knives, or other self-defense tools, by state employees or on state property, shall continue or remain in effect after July 1, 2029, unless renewed or re-adopted pursuant to this section.
II. Upon the effective date of this section, all municipal ordinances and regulations not authorized under paragraph I relative to the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting, taxation, or other matter pertaining to firearms, firearm components, ammunition, firearms supplies, stun guns, Tasers, pepper spray devices, [
or] knives, or other self-defense tools shall be null and void.
What the hell were you thinking? None of this extra noise was necessary. The legislature was asserting its authority to establish a single, clear statewide standard for the defense of the Second Amendment across all lawful self-defense tools, and you went and bollixed it all up by adding rule-making authority to state offices.
The House, thankfully, will not be at all interested in what the Senate did to their bill, and the only proper correction would be to gut that extra language. Odds are good this thing won’t survive a committee of conference if House Leadership has anything to say, so the best case at this point, if we can’t get the House version back, is to table it until next session and hope we have a majority of actual Republicans in both chambers to address it.
And don’t be surprised if the rule-making add-on was a poison pill to ensure the bill would be killed without the Senate having to do it on its own.
