The C of C report on HB 609 should be taken off Consent and defeated.
As a longtime life member of the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, I seldom, if ever, take positions against those taken in its “Gold Standard” of recommendations for voting on bills, but this is one of those rare occasions when I must speak out against the C of C rewrite of HB 609.
And, as an aside, much may be made by its supporters that it is supported by the NRA, of which I am also a life member. But this is the same scandal-plagued organization that has abused its members and its finances for decades, so its credibility is certainly suspect.
I am also a member of the NH Firearms Coalition and a life member of Gun Owners of America, neither of which supports this rewrite of our state preemption law.
Tomorrow’s upcoming consideration of the C of C report on HB 609 should be defeated.
The C of C report is a complete rewrite of RSA 159:26, our state firearms preemption statute.
Admittedly, the existing statute is not great because it fails to contain any effective enforcement mechanisms to allow affected citizens to come down hard on violations of the state preemption by local governments. The C of C rewrite takes mere baby steps by including some painfully mediocre penalties for local government violations.
But that is not the major problem.
The major problem is that the rewrite delegates to agencies and local governments the authority to regulate firearms and related items without involvement by the General Court, which is where all such regulations must and should originate.
A careful reading of the rewrite indicates that it actually seems to encourage agencies and local governments to enter into firearms regulation.
It essentially guts the concept of state preemption and is probably contrary to specific guarantees in our state constitution.
Finally, in a letter released today (June 3), the NH Attorney General has opposed the C of C rewrite in HB 609, stating, in part, the following:
“I write to express serious concerns with House Bill 609, relative to the General Court’s authority over the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting, taxation, and other matters pertaining to firearms, stun guns, tasers, pepper spray devices, knives and other self-defense tools. As Attorney General, it is my job to protect the Constitutional rights of our citizens and to protect public safety. Put simply, this bill would create a regulatory cliff that raises massive risk for the Second Amendment rights of New Hampshire citizens and legal uncertainty for the public safety operations of State law enforcement agencies. For these reasons, which are further described below, I strongly urge that you decline to adopt the Committee of Conference report. [emphasis added][
So, the C of C report on HB 609 should be taken off Consent and defeated.
