NH Legislature torches Constitutional Protections

I wanted to bring our members up to speed on what happened in Concord this past week.  Well,.. the House and Senate have spoken and based on their votes, the progressive liberals running the State House conspired against the people of New Hampshire to ‘torch’ the Constitution.

Yes, you heard me correctly.  The legislators running the State House burned through any protections in either the New Hampshire Constitution or the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution.

Two weeks ago, HB696 ‘Elder Care Gun Confiscation’ went to a Committee of Conference with a minimal vestige of due process in the legislation.  However, the Bill that came out of the Committee of Conference removed all due process protections!  The bill now openly requires gun confiscation with NO OVERSIGHT even from a court (as limited as that is/was).

This is a blatant and intentional violation of Part 1, Article 15 and 19:

“ [Art.] 15. [Right of Accused.] No subject shall be held to answer for any crime, or offense, until the same is fully and plainly, substantially and formally, described to him;” and “meet the witnesses against him face to face, and to be fully heard in his defense, by himself, and counsel.” and;

“[Art.] 19. [Searches and Seizures Regulated.] Every subject hath a right to be secure from all unreasonable searches and seizures of his person, his houses, his papers, and all his possessions… Therefore, all warrants to search suspected places, or arrest a person…. or to seize their property, ..”

While there are some that are claiming the bill was ‘improved’ and is acceptable, the Bill as amended requires the property of the accused to be confiscated without even an ex-parte hearing or court order.

Bottom line, HB696 as passed by the House and Senate now requires that property must be confiscated by the police upon a mere accusation.  The police do not even need a search warrant to begin the process.

Another major change to the bill was HB696 as originally passed by the House of Representatives had a process for the property to be returned if the accusation is proven false, or when the resulting order expired.

Not only does the “compromise” Bill remove all pretense of due process and judicial oversight prior to the confiscation of property, it removes any process for the return of the property.  That’s right, if you are falsely accused, there is no way to regain your property.

It cannot be said strongly enough.  HB696 removes all pretense of due process for the confiscation of property.  It constitutes an aggression upon the people of New Hampshire and a distain for the Constitution which the founders put in place to limit the power of their government of unprecedented proportions.

If allowed to become law, HB696 sets up New Hampshire to be on the threshold of becoming a police State.

In speaking with Rep. Al Baldesaro, a Republican from Londonderry, “House Bill 696 puts every veteran in our State, who has fought to defend our country, at risk.  It deprives them of the very protections in our Constitution that they risked their lives to preserve.”

Former Rep. Daniel Itse, Republican, Fremont, “The Democrats in Concord have violated the most fundamental due process requirements in both our State and Federal Constitutions.  The passage of HB696 shows total disregard for the principles of liberty upon which our country was founded, and utter contempt for the people of New Hampshire.”

In addition to the disastrous HB696 that the House and Senate passed. The liberals in the Legislature also approved the Committee of Conference Report on HB564 ‘Criminal Safe Zones’.

The amended Bill leaves our children with ‘on duty’ law enforcement officers as their only possible protection, if they happen to be there at the time and place of an incident.  One should note, that just a mere 14 years ago on June 27th, 2005, the NY Times reported that “The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the police did not have a constitutional duty to protect a person from harm, even a woman who had obtained a court-issued protective order against a violent husband making an arrest mandatory for a violation”  So the ‘On-duty’ officer has no requirement to get involved and the off duty officer is prohibited from carrying firearms on school property by the bill.

I want to remind everyone how poorly ‘the no-duty to protect ruling’ worked out for the children in Broward County, when the only armed officer that could have stopped the murders choose to cower and not get involved.

HB564 as amended leaves parents powerless to protect their children if they are at the school at the time of an incident.  It leaves parents at sporting events helpless to protect their families while watching the game.  It leaves inner city parents who walk their children to school daily powerless to protect their children.

Again the House and Senate torched the Constitution by ignoring the phrase “[Art.] 2-a. [The Bearing of Arms.] All persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state.”

At the end of the day, the criminals don’t obey the laws.  It has been shown that nearly every firearm assault has occurred in a gun free zone.  Gun free zones are really free kill zones and HB564 puts every school child in New Hampshire at greater risk.

The Democrats seem to want only murders and ‘on duty’ police to carry guns on school grounds.”

I want to make one important personal request:  In addition to calling the Governor to veto these the 4 anti-gun bills, I need you to call the Executive Council regarding Gordon MacDonald and ask that he be confirmed.

It appears that the political party that holds the following anti-gun views* has made it their mission to defeat the nomination of pro-gun Gordon MacDonald to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

I make this statement as they are actively paying to ran ads against Macdonald.  If you did not see the alert about AG Gordon MacDonald, and why he would be a good justice for the firearms owners, (please click here and get involved).

Call to Action:

1.     Call the Executive Council Office at 271-3632 or e-mail your Executive Councilor and request that they vote to confirm Gordon McDonald to the Supreme Court.

2.     Call the Governor’s office at 271-2121, thank him for his pro-gun nomination to the New Hampshire Supreme Court and ask him to veto all 4 anti-gun bills ( HB109, HB514, HB564 and HB696).

Click to receive your free Constitutional Carry bumper sticker.

*(Pulled from the Democratic Platform June 29th, 2019)

We believe in universal background checks to protect our communities from gun violence.

We believe that military-style weapons, bump stocks, and high-capacity magazines do not belong on our streets.

We believe in the establishment of gun-free zones in certain public places, such as schools, as a means of reducing gun violence.

We support a ban on guns in and on the floor of our State House for the safety of our residents, guests, and children who visit.

In liberty,