Thank you for your support for the strengthening of Pre-emption in NH!
Preemption mandates that only the state of NH can make laws and regulations relative to gun rights and the right to self-protection… School boards, city managers and other political subdivisions are prohibited from regulating firearms.
HB 307 passed the House and strengthened Preemption by creating penalties for those in government that violate this law…finally adding some much-needed teeth.
Unfortunately, the NH Senate gutted the bill by removing the word “USE” from the bill in both the Legislative Intent section, and the Prohibitions and Penalties section.
It is our position that the removal of this word actually creates a “Legal loophole” for municipalities and other political subdivisions to tell you how you can use your firearm. If the House agrees to the Senate change, the ‘legislative intent’ [the history of this law] will be to remove from statute the word ‘USE’ and if this bill were to become law, the change would invite a number of towns to then attempt to do what the town of Washington is doing as mentioned below.
Here are the two versions:
Original statute:
Except as otherwise specifically provided by statute, no ordinance or regulation of a political subdivision, including, without limitation, any school district or school administrative unit, shall regulate the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting, taxation, or other matter pertaining to firearms, firearms components, ammunition, ammunition components, firearms supplies and accessories or knives in this state.
Amended:
Except as otherwise specifically provided by statute, no ordinance or regulation of a political subdivision, including, without limitation, any school district or school administrative unit, shall regulate the sale, purchase, ownership, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting, taxation, or other matter pertaining to firearms; ammunition; ammunition components; knives; firearms components; firearms accessories; and firearms supplies in this state.
Do you see it? The USE of a firearm under this bill can now be considered “regulated”!!
When writing or editing a bill, words, punctuation and spaces all have a specific intent. Why would the Senate take this word out? It weakens all the great parts we fought for by leaving an “out” for local authorities to latch onto! The Senator who did this is truly not in favor of the gun owners and wanted to appear to do something that pleased them, meanwhile stabbing them in the back.
How would you feel if your right to plink in your backyard was taken away? What about no longer being able to hunt on town forest or recreational land? You see, letting politicians decide what an appropriate “USE” of your firearm is can be dangerous to your gun rights. Time and time again we have seen what they have up their sleeve, and it isn’t pretty.
Business operations are generally governed by land use regulations. However under this bill, it is possible for municipalities to regulate or to say NO to a firearms business based on zoning ordinance…you see, this bill should have gone a little further than it did.
We are hearing rumblings that the Town of Washington NH is thinking about amending their land use ordinance to address commercial ranges in their town…the language is not quite clear…see for yourself by clicking HERE.
This is a perfect example of potentially leaving “loopholes” for local politicians to use to regulate the 2nd amendment.
Let’s fix this now.
Here is a solution:
Call your House Representative and tell them to call for a Committee of Conference to get the full House and Senate to agree to put the word “USE” back into this great bill.
Contact the sponsors and request that they stand up to the Senate:
Norm Silber Email: njs@silbersnh.com
Phone: 603.293.0565
Michael Yakubovich Email: Michael.Yakubovich@leg.state.nh.us
Phone: 603.259.1516
Barbara Comtois Email: Barbara.Comtois@leg.state.nh.us
Phone: 603.776.8989
Linda Gould Email: linda.gould@leg.state.nh.us
Phone: 603.472.3877
Contact the Senator for the town of Washington and ask her to protect the rights of her constituents in that town by fixing HB307 and putting “use” back into the bill:
Ruth Ward Email: Ruth.Ward@leg.state.nh.us
Phone: 603.271.2609
In Liberty,
Kirk Beswick
President
CALL. WRITE. ATTEND.
BECOME AN ACTIVIST FOR THE 2ND AMENDMENT
NO COMPROMISE
Kirk Beswick
President – NHFC, Inc.
