On May 3, the Executive Council voted to table the nomination of anti-gun David Patch and that means we still need calls and emails to defeat this anti-gun activist. Click here for details on how to do that. Please don’t forget to take action!
If you have been reading my recent emails you know that we are trying really hard to educate people about the anti-gun activities of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Commission and the Fish and Game Department. If you missed them, they are all posted right here, on our homepage, just scroll down.
You see, David Patch and the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department oppose our right to defend ourselves in a vehicle with the firearm of our choice. The people who disagree are a minority of hunters, who at about 50,000, are a minority of New Hampshire residents, which according to the US Census Bureau, has a population of 1,334,795 million people. A tiny minority of the population is seeking continued regulation of rifles and shotguns and a restriction of the Second Amendment rights of the majority of New Hampshire citizens and visitors to our state. This is just plain wrong.
Sadly, a few vocal hunters think that the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department is their friend. This couldn’t be further from the truth, just ask the people who have been abused by the Fish and Game Department. The department is not only anti-gun, but is anti-Constitution. Not only do they not support our Second Amendment right to self defense, they also do not support our Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination. The Fish and Game Department even has an administrative rule that forces hunters to “take fish and game personnel back to the kill site, the site of carcass evisceration, or both,”. The Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination apparently does not apply to the anti-gun Conservation Officers of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.
I became concerned about this unconstitutional behavior when I watched a few episodes of Northwoods Law: New Hampshire and I saw Conservation Officers culling through deer and turkey registration forms and then forcing hunters to take them back to the kill site and answer questions. One hunter, in the Marlborough area, was cleared of wrong doing; but 2 turkey hunters were forced to admit wrong doing and self incriminate themselves. I don’t condone law breakers of any sort. Even those who break laws and rules that I disagree with like Fish and Game laws. However, I believe very strongly in Constitutional protections and Conservation Officers should have to prove their case and an administrative rule that forces people to waive their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination is just plain wrong and shows the culture of this rogue agency.
In a recent publication some guy named Bill Carney rushes to defend David Patch’s anti-gun votes and policy positions and trashes your right to defend yourself. Mr. Carney disagrees with HB 84, which will decriminalization the possession of loaded rifles and shotguns in vehicles. Mr. Carney seems to think this anti-Second Amendment law is a “GUN SAFETY law” (emphasis in original). A gun safety law; wow, that sounds just like the same anti-gun rhetoric that comes from former Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords and her anti-gun husband, Mark Kelly. They also talk about gun safety as a way to direct attention away from bills like “see a shrink lose your guns” or gun and magazine ban laws. They also claim their opposition to nationwide concealed carry recognition is about safety. Sorry Mr. Carney, your argument about safety is just another anti-gun ruse.
Even worse, Mr. Carney failed to mention the fact that David Patch and the Fish and Game Commission also opposed SB 12, Constitutional Carry.
Mr. Carney is clueless as to why pro-gun organizations are now objecting to the Governor’s nomination of David Patch and asking the Executive Council to nix his reappointment to the Fish and Game Commission.
We are voicing objections because the current nominee, David Patch who is the Vice Chairman of the Commission seconded the motion made by anti-gun Commissioner Walter Morse to oppose SB 12, Constitutional Carry and then the Commission voted unanimously to oppose SB 12. The Commission also voted unanimously to oppose HB 84 to decriminalize the possession of loaded rifles and shotguns. One person called me and tried to explain so called “fair chase”, he told me that it was unfair to hunt from a vehicle. Maybe so but HB 84 would not allow, and we are not proposing allowing, hunting from a vehicle. HB 84 merely decriminalizes the act of carrying a firearm. But back to “fair chase”, if we really want to be fair to the deer, bear and turkey maybe we should be forced to chase them down and slit their throat? Wouldn’t that make the chase much more “fair” than using a firearm from a tree stand?
The last time we attempted to decriminalize the possession of rifles and shotguns, we heard it was an anti-poaching law. Since we effectively debunked that myth, now it is a gun safety law. The reality is that hunters own firearms, but some are not Second Amendment supporters. Hunting and sport do not appear anywhere in the US or New Hampshire Constitutions. The right to keep and bear arms appears in both.
This whole notion of linking the possession of firearms to hunting is absurd on its face and does not deserve any further comment. If hunting was the reason our founders wrote the Second Amendment (which it is not) we would all be limited to 5 round capacity rifle magazines and 3 round capacity shotguns because these are the limits imposed by hunting laws.
We are also objecting to David Patch because the Commission and the Department have become nothing more than an anti-gun activist organization within state government. This behavior must end. We will keep pushing back until the anti-gun, Unconstitutional behavior of the Fish and Game Department ends.
Mr. Carney seems to think that sportsmen should all be supporting the Fish and Game Department. Even though this department has a track record of bullying, anti-gun, unconstitutional behavior as explained above. Mr, Carney constantly refers to gun owners as sportsmen. Sorry Bill, but there is no Constitutional right to be a sportsman.
As I have said before, I hold a lifetime New Hampshire Hunting and Fishing License. I love the outdoors, but my love of the outdoors does not cause me to blindly agree with anti-gun laws and not fight for change. Nor does my love of the outdoors fool me into blindly following, without question the dictates of an anti-gun state agency.
Hunters claim that the Fish and Game Department is funded by fees charged to hunters and fishermen. Sort of, but because license fees are not enough, the department receives millions of dollars in Federal Gun Tax money. You may be wondering what gun tax? It is a hidden, 10% tax on firearms and ammunition that was enacted in the 1930s and is paid by manufacturers at the wholesale level which is why many firearms owners do not know they are even paying it. The tax is collected by the Federal Government to distribute to the states for wildlife programs. Everyone who purchases a new firearm or ammunition pays this hidden tax, even folks who don’t hunt. I don’t understand why a tax on our concealed carry handguns or an AR 15 rifle and other firearms not traditionally used for hunting purposes should go to support wildlife programs. In any event, even though a frame or receiver is a firearm for Gun Control Act purposes; for tax purposes, the tax is only paid by manufacturers on complete functioning firearms. A good way to decrease the tax collected and used for anti-gun purposes is to purchase a receiver or frame and assemble your own firearm for your own personal use. This is perfectly legal and later this year NHFC will run a clinic on how to build an AR 15.
Rather than appointing more of the same anti-gun activists, (David Patch). Governor Sununu should reorganize the department and force it to focus on its stated mission of wildlife management.
Remember, since the nomination of anti-gun David Patch was tabled by the Executive Council, he continues to serve. We must insist that the Executive Council defeat his nomination. Please call and email to help defeat this anti-gun activist. Click here for details on how to do that.
In liberty,
Vice President & Training Director – NHFC
