Posted on 01/06/2012 8:44:19 AM PST by marktwain
CONCORD — Concealed weapon permits would be optional under a bill the House passed Thursday despite opposition from law enforcement.
Law enforcement also opposed another House-passed bill that would repeal prohibitions against loaded weapons in vehicles.
Gov. John Lynch has said he will veto both bills if either reaches his desk.
House Bill 526 passed the House on a 193-122 vote and will now go to the Senate, where members declined to act on a nearly identical bill last session.
Supporters said making a concealed weapon license optional would track Vermont, which has had a similar law for more than 100 years without a problem, said Rep. Mark Warden, R-Goffstown. “An armed society is a polite society.”
Supporters said the bill would end the practice of some police chiefs of denying permits to people who are legally entitled to have a concealed weapon.
But opponents said the bill would allow nearly anyone to have a concealed weapon, even those with substance abuse or mental health issues.
Rep. Stephen Shurtleff, D-Concord, said there is a good reason law enforcement opposes the bill. Local police chiefs rarely deny anyone a permit, he noted, but when they are aware of issues, often from family members, they can deny a license.
“This belongs in the local community,” Shurtleff said. “This procedure has worked well in New Hampshire.”
The bill would also increase the license from two to five years and would allow residents to seek a license to take advantage of reciprocity agreements with other states.
-- HB 194, which passed the House on a 204-110 vote, would change the definition of a loaded firearm to allow bullets to be in the magazine or clip of a gun, as long as a bullet is not in the chamber.
Lynch called the change absurd, saying a loaded gun is a loaded gun.
But bill supporters say it protects both Second Amendment and property rights.
But Rep. Michael McCarthy, R-Nashua, said the change is an effort to ensure someone is not prosecuted for poaching when they are not doing that. “We’re trying to avoid a situation where someone who is not hunting or poaching runs afoul of the law,” he said.
He said someone who spends the summer in a motor home or house boat and keeps a loaded firearm for protection could be charged under the current law.
“People could be unknowingly violating poaching statute,” he said.
Shurtleff said the intent of the law was to prevent the accidental discharge of a loaded firearm in a vehicle.
He said State Police recently demonstrated how quickly a semi-automatic weapon could go from unloaded to loaded in a fraction of a second.
“I ask you to vote down this bill and maintain the current law for the safety of the citizens of New Hampshire,” Shurtleff said.
Under the bill, a person could carry a loaded weapon in a vehicle on their own property.
The two bills, along with HB 334, which passed Wednesday, are all bills Lynch vowed to veto, saying earlier this week that they would loosen restrictions on what he called New Hampshire’s already gun-friendly laws. The changes would harm public safety of citizens.
All three bills now go to the Senate for action.
I suppose they are mostly transplants from Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey.
When the statists can get more political power in the hands of local government, then they are for local control. When they can get more power in the hands of the federal government, they are for degrading the Constitution.
A previous quote, not exactly sure from whom: "The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution."
The more states that get behind this, the better. I’m hoping Virginia get moving on this.
How does that definition of a loaded firearm work with a revolver?
State and fed laws prevent such individuals from BUYING firearms. They do not prevent spouses or boyfriends/girlfriends from buying firearms and then allowing the person access.
That said, if a person is too dangerous to be allowed a firearm, then they are too dangerous to be on the street.
That is not exactly accurate. No permit at all is required in VT to carry concealed, openly or in your vehicle. Thanks to their state constitution it has always been that way.
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