Gun Safety Legislation Takes a Hit in Committee
Legislators Ray Newman, Nancy Murphy, and David Meuse stand with citizens from Moms Demand Action at Thursday’s pubic hearing. (Photo courtesy of Moms Demand Action.)
A disappointing day earlier this week for me personally along with legislative advocates and citizen supporters of bills that would reduce the risk of gun violence and gun suicide in NH. After a tough Thursday in my committee, five critically important gun safety measures will go to the House floor with a recommendation to kill them and a seventh—a bill (HB76 prime sponsor Rep. Cam Kenney) to require a 3 day waiting period after the sale of a firearm before the buyer can take ownership—goes to the floor with “no recommendation” after a 10-10 split.
In an article on the events of the day published in the Keene Sentinel, I’m quoted as follows: “We’ve reached a point on many of these bills…where literally no matter what we do, nothing is enough to address some concerns. When we are not willing to close the window on anything, even a little tiny bit, one of the things that we’re doing is we’re significantly increasing the risk for our citizens.”
Expanding on those points a bit, what New Hampshire needs when it comes to this issue isn’t total victory by either side. But what we do need—and what I and many others will continue to fight for—is a much better balance than what we have now.
As firearms ownership expands with more and more guns being toted into public places, what’s important for more of us to understand is that public safety requires us to occasionally balance constitutional rights—such as free speech and gun ownership—against society’s very real need to minimize the harm that can come when those rights are used to open the door to criminal acts, violence, intimidation, and tragedies.
Bills receiving Inexpedient to Legislate recommendations on Thursday included:
HB32 allowing enforcement of school gun safety zones (prime sponsor Rep. Steve Shurtleff)
HB59 requiring universal background checks and closing the Charleston loophole (prime sponsor Rep. Marjorie Smith)
HB78 repealing a law past last year that prohibits state and local law enforcement from assisting federal officers in the enforcement of federal firearms laws and regulations (prime sponsor Rep. Suzanne Vail)
HB106 creating extreme risk protection orders that can be used to temporary remove deadly weapons from those posing an imminent threat to themselves or to others (prime sponsor Rep. Amy Bradley)
HB444 prohibiting deadly weapons in a polling place (prime sponsor Rep. Tim Horrigan)
The one ray of light in a bad week happened in the same committee room a day later. On Friday, HB351, a bill I sponsored that that would broaden the definition of firearms negligence involving children and increase penalities, received a 10-9 Ought to Pass recommendation from the committee along straight party lines.