Yesterday, NHFC President Alan Rice (who also represents GOA), Vice President, Paul Marquis, and myself attended the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on SB 500. Paul spoke for NHFC and Alan spoke for GOA and I did a section by section review of SB 500. This was an interesting hearing; normally a bill sponsor is the first to speak. The sponsor will introduce the bill and explain what the intention of the bill is, what problems the bill is attempting to solve and how it will do these things. That is not what happened. Yesterday, the prime sponsor, Senator Kevin Avard was the first to address the committee, but instead of talking about SB 500, he instead went on a tirade against you; the gun owners who are NHFC.
Senator Avard told the Committee that NHFC sent a flyer into his district and he submitted a copy for the committee record. If you don’t live in Senate District 12 you can click here to see our mailing. Senator Avard complained about the number of calls and emails he received and how much time it was taking to respond to them all. Instead of listening to the grassroots gun owners who have legitimate concerns about the text of SB 500, he demanded an apology. But when it was Alan’s turn to speak he told the committee that NHFC will continue to mail and email gun owners and ask them to take action that will protect their civil right to be armed. He was clear there will not be an apology.
For those of you who have been following NHFC regularly, you understand that this is the process. We follow legislation, analyze it and alert you, the grassroots gun owner and ask you to take action. I am proud that NHFC is the gun owners representative to the politician instead of being the politicians representative to the gun owner and has been for 14 years!
Just imagine if we hadn’t alerted you to the legislative landmines in SB 500 and it had been passed into law, the likes of Rep. Anne Kuster and Senator Jeanne Shaheen would be in Washington DC rewriting the definition of a firearm.
In an affront to you, NHFC Members and all the grassroots gun owners who called and wrote to Senator Avard to object to SB 500, Senator Avard appears to be taking direction from anti-gun activists and lobbyists. Instead of telling the committee he made a mistake and to kill the bill as you requested, Senator Avard offered an amendment, 2018-0046s to SB 500, an amendment that will make SB 500 even more anti gun. It still references federal law, and even adds the reference to federal law to yet another section of the New Hampshire R.S.A.s; but the difference is that it specifies in effect on January 1, 2018. While this guards against future negative changes; but what if Congress really does pass the Hearing Protection Act and deregulates sound suppressors? That would not benefit Granite Staters because we would be stuck with the old federal law forever. On January 1, 2018, 18 USC 921 included in the definition of a firearm: frames, receivers and silencers. This amendment does not help us.
Just think, after all the hard work to make it lawful to hunt with a sound suppressor in New Hampshire the anti-gun activists who are giving advice to Sen. Avard would then treat these accessories as firearms.
Furthermore, we are entirely uncomfortable with the language defining loaded. It appears that if a rifle is loaded and not ready to fire, that is the safety is on, a person could carry it in a motor vehicle. However, that can potentially set up a gun owner unknowing offense, possibly costing tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. We have advocated for many years for a complete repeal of the possessory only ban on loaded rifles in vehicles. It is unclear how this language will be interpreted by a court. A clean repeal will protect gun owners and leave no room for misinterpretation. The Avard language leaves it up to a judge to decide if you can carry a loaded rifle or shotgun in your car.
Some of our longtime readers may remember Jay Simkin. He served on NHFC’s Board of Directors for many years and has been a licensed gun dealer for three decades. Jay was the last member of the public to speak and he thoroughly discredited the notion that there is any benefit to using federal firearms definitions in New Hampshire laws. Please click here to read what Jay submitted to the Judiciary Committee. The letter is a phenomenal read, its good to understand how knowledgeable current and former Board Members are about firearms.
The committee has not yet made a decision on SB 500 and there is still time to contact them and insist that SB 500 be voted “inexpedient to legislate”.
We still need you to call and email all Judiciary Committee Members and deliver this prewritten message, by clicking here:
In case the mail to link does not work on your system, I am including a list of the Judiciary Committee members:
Chair – Senator Sharon Carson, Phone 603-271-1403 Sharon.Carson@leg.state.nh.us
Vice Chair Senator Bette R. Lasky, Phone: 603-271-3093 Bette.Lasky@leg.state.nh.us
Senator Harold French, Phone: 603-271-4063 Harold.French@leg.state.nh.us
Senator William Gannon, Phone: 603-271-7803 (Aide): katherine.bourque@leg.state.nh.us
Senator Martha Hennessey, Phone: 603-271-3067 martha.hennessey@leg.state.nh.us
Prewritten message to Senators:
Please vote SB 500 Inexpedient to Legislate. I heard that Senator Avard offered an amendment that makes a bad bill worse. SB 500 is an anti-gun bill that will greatly harm New Hampshire firearms owners by using the federal definition of a firearm as well as making radical changes to R.S.A. 207:7 but stops short of repealing this possessory gun ban. The New Hampshire Firearms Coalition told me that we can follow federal law without making it part of New Hampshire law and creating new regulations on frames, receivers and sound suppressors. Please vote SB 500 ITL.
Thank you
After you write to the Judiciary Committee, please click here to find out who your own senator is and send them the same prewritten message.
If any State Senators respond, please send me a copy: jrhoell@nhfc-ontarget.org
After we attended the hearing for SB 500, Alan and I went to the House Municipal and County Government Committee to oppose HB 1463, the 2018 Range Closure Act. This dangerous bill will allow cities and towns to set maximum decibel limits on noise and could be used to close longstanding shooting ranges. Sadly, GOA, NHFC and GONH were the only organizations fighting this dangerous bill; none of the so called “gun groups” who are pushing SB 500 were opposing the Range Closure Act. Please click here to contact the Municipal and County Government Committee and politely request that they vote HB 1463 “inexpedient to legislate”.
In case the mail to link does not work, please send this prewritten message to HouseMunicipalandCountyGovt@leg.state.nh.us:
Dear Representatives,
HB 1463, is a very bad bill that will be abused to force the closure of longstanding shooting ranges. Please vote HB 1463 “inexpedient to legislate”. The New Hampshire Firearms Coalition told me that in addition to range closures, HB 1463 might even be used to ban hunting. Please vote this bad bill ITL.
Thank you.
If any State Representatives respond, please send me a copy: jrhoell@nhfc-ontarget.org
Thanks for your support!
In liberty,
Corporate Secretary – NHFC, Inc.
