Important information on SB141

by Kirk Beswick on March 27, 2021

Some in the Legislature are asking that the NH Instant Background check system for handguns be turned over to the Federal Government FBI NICS. SB141 has been introduced and has passed the Senate. The House Criminal Justice Committee has supported your Second Amendment Rights, and the ability to continue to access a local person to resolve any potential errors if you are falsely denied the right to purchase a firearm.  The committee voted correctly to recommend SB141 Inexpedient to Legislate (“ITL”) with a 15 to 6 vote.

Some background: When a person chooses to purchase a handgun in New Hampshire from an FFL and fills out the required Form 4473 the FFL then calls the New Hampshire Gun Line (NHGL) for approval to transfer a handgun. This differs from the process to transfer a long gun (Shotgun, Rifle, etc.) which is done with a call to the FBI NICS call center.

Both reviewers – the NHGL or FBI-NICS – query the same three Federal databases: (a) the Interstate Identification Index (III); (b) the National Crime Information Center and (c) the NICS Indexes (which mainly hold immigration-related records). Police officers nationwide rely on III and NCIC to identify a person s/he has pulled over. Many people wrongly believe that the system only provides a proceed/delay/deny response and that is the final answer. The stark reality is that the system provides some information and the user of the system is the one making the determination to proceed/delay/deny.

If the NH Gun Line goes away, the group of people making this determination are Federal employees, bureaucrats or FBI contractors that are “accountable” only to those in DC. While the Federal system might have been better in the past, the Biden administration is busy making the Federal agencies the most anti-gun they have ever been. It cannot be wise to shift control of all firearm purchases to the FBI-NICS, when a militantly anti-gun Administration holds office.

Groups from outside New Hampshire are pushing SB141 believing that completely turning over the New Hampshire Gun Line to the Federal Government FBI NICS would make it more convenient to sell firearms. Curiously, several of these out of state groups failed to advocate for the other good gun bills (SB154, HB307, HB195, HB196, HB197) that were passing through the legislature this year. These same groups also believe that a single point of contact is better. The fact is, having several parallel paths to allow gun owners the chance to purchase a firearm is in the best interest of the gun owners.

Proponents of the bill claim that it will save money, while the reality is this just takes it out of your left pocket instead of out of your right pocket and then forces your kids to foot the bill with interest. Currently the NH Gun Line is paid for with State tax dollars, but SB141 proposes to move some of this responsibility to the county sheriffs and gives them a one-time incentive to take over the portion of returning seized firearms back to their rightful owners and the balance goes to the “highly efficient”[sarcasm] Federal government, a government that already borrows 43% of every dollar that it spends. There is actual labor involved in processing the approximately 85,000 checks that were done by the NHGL and it is mystical thinking that this comes for “free” by giving it to the Federal government. Instead we get to pay for the labor and the extra interest on the borrowed money to run the program out of a different account, and one that is far less efficient and one where we have no say.

On a fundamental level, it makes no sense to go from state and local control with legislative oversight to completely shifting responsibility to an overly large and inefficient federal government!  There is far less accountability for those that are working for the Federal Government than those that are working for the State Government. Instead SB141 should be defeated and a NEW BILL INITIATED that puts NHGL performance requirements into a new statute.

We 100% agree with the sponsors of SB141 that the NHGL was broken. Until very recently, the NH Gun Line performance was completely unacceptable. For years, they failed to complete transactions in a timely manner. However, in December 2020 discussions began between New Hampshire Firearms Coalition, elected officials, and the Department of Safety to make permanent improvements and efficiencies to the NH Gun Line. An investigation commenced to examine exactly which records and databases were being researched when a request to purchase a firearm was received, and why it was taking so long to have a records check completed.

During the investigation, several significant discoveries were made, including unnecessary and unauthorized checks being conducted by the staff and multiple people working on just one check. These excessive checks have ceased, and the process streamlined to make sure the person who answers the phone completes the transaction. In addition to the unauthorized checks being stopped, numerous places were found where the process could be improved. Since the changes were adopted the response time has shortened significantly and sometimes multiple checks are handled on the same phone call. In addition to the process changes, the prior backlog of incomplete checks has been eliminated and a process changed to prevent the re-occurrence of a backlog.

Once the deficiencies were discovered and modified, the new process became part of the policy adopted on January 11, 2021. On January 11, 2021 Commissioner Quinn’s signed Memo instructed the Gun Line to implement the much-needed improvements. More recently, another major upgrade was a new “cued” phone system that has been installed to help handle calls in exceptionally high-volume times. The changes that the NHGL has needed for years are being made in real time and given the vehemently anti-gun behavior of our NH Congressional delegation and of federal bureaucrats, now is the worst possible time to abdicate responsibility for the gun line to the DC swamp!

The initial goal for the New Hampshire Gun Line was set to have a minimum of 90% of all inquiries receive an “instant”answer (meaning while the dealer is on the line). With the recent improvements made to the NH Gun Line, the department has achieved and exceeded this goal of 90% and now at a 97% “instant” determination rate. Now, less than 3% of Gun Line inquiries are delayed. The NHGL delay rate is approximately one third of the Federal Government’s FBI NICS delay rate.

In the past, many national groups asked the FBI NICS to eliminate the excessive delays. Think about that 10% of the sales were delayed by the FBI call center. Do we as a state really want to accept that as a “solution” when we can force the NHGL to do a better job? The FBI NICS rate was over three times what the current NH rate is that those out of state gun groups find ‘unacceptable.’ Yet there are some proponents of the bill that want to force us to live with this other system forever.
During the investigation, it was discovered that most NH Gun Line delays are the result of incomplete court or police records that need further inquiries to determine if they truly contain a prohibiting offence or not. This is an issue that is not about the NHGL but is about the NH Court system and this is being addressed.
Lastly, some of the sponsors of SB141 and others are making false claims, trying to discredit the NH Gun Line to justify passing SB141. They falsely claim that the NH Gun Line cannot tell a person who is denied, why they were denied, and in what state, and in what court.
Nothing could be further from the truth.

While the NHGL can provide real time and precise information as to why a potential firearm purchase was denied, the Federal system requires the purchaser to submit fingerprints, firearm FFL transaction number and submission of one’s social security number to even initial the process. Next the response forms from the Federal government only explain what Federal statute you were disqualified under, not the specifics regarding the record that needs to be corrected. The refusal and failure to provide a meaningful reason for the denial is precisely one of the many problems with the Federal Government’s FBI NICS!

The NH Gun Line can and will tell the denied buyer the precise reason the person was deemed a “prohibited person”.  The NH Gun Line will also share the necessary information with the buyer to allow them the opportunity to correct the record – something the Federal Government FBI NICS fails to do consistently- thus depriving New Hampshire residents of their Second Amendment and Part First, Art. 2-a rights. This is a huge reason to keep the NH Gun Line and the handgun background checks here in New Hampshire.

Once a person knows why they are denied a firearm purchase, they can examine their options. If the reasons given for the denial are correct, the person can go to the proper jurisdiction and seek an annulment, expungement, sealing, pardon set aside or appropriate procedure pertaining to the prohibiting offense. We have seen the NH Gun Line correct cases of mistaken identity, and cases of incorrect or incomplete information entered into a database by others. Correcting these errors can happen very quickly and without charge when the applicant can talk directly to the NH Gun line in Concord or ask their State Representative to get involved and help them. (try speaking with a decision maker at FBI NICS to reverse a denial)

If NH requires that all FFLs call the Federal Government’s FBI NICS system for permission to exercise their Second Amendment Rights as SB141 would mandate, New Hampshire citizens lose. There is no practical accountability to New Hampshire’s residents who are denied their Second Amendment Rights in purchasing a firearm. Commissioner Quinn and Lieutenant McQuade have personally appeared before New Hampshire officials to answer questions and work with those officials to improve the process. Who at the FBI NICS can the buyer even call?  Who will respond to the buyer or even tell the buyer why the FBI NICS has denied our firearm purchase? Getting a meaningful answer that we can respond to from FBI NICS usually includes paying a lawyer, sending in fingerprints and social security numbers… and waiting for weeks or months while you are denied your Second Amendment Rights. With a false denial rate as high as it is, we should tread carefully about giving greater responsibility to the Federal Government.

As the Criminal Justice Committee was nearing a vote on SB141, without any credible evidence, proponents concocted yet another vicious rumor in a desperate attempt to try to discredit the NH Gun Line. Supporters of SB141 claimed that somehow an applicant’s information would be given to Microsoft and possibly sold. Contrary to this claim, the memorandum of understanding with Microsoft was about general Department of Safety email and other data and not about the NHGL.
The truth is that upon approval all the New Hampshire gun owner’s information is destroyed. No New Hampshire gun owner’s information ever goes to a cloud.
In conclusion, the NH Gun Line is getting firearms into the hands of NH gun owners faster and more efficiently than ever before.

You and the NHFC are here to make sure that “instant” checks stay “instant”. SB141 would put control over whether or not a New Hampshire citizen in need of self-protection could exercise their Second Amendment, and Part the First, 2-a rights in the hands of unelected, unaccountable federal bureaucrats at the FBI with a proven hostility to your right to keep and bear arms while one of the most anti-gun Presidents in the history of this country is in the White House.

Please find SB141 Inexpedient to Legislate.

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