DEFENSIVE FREEDOM IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

New Hampshire House speaker supports gun legislation,
despite others’ concerns

Friday, February 25, 2011

The Telegraph
By KEVIN LANDRIGAN


CONCORD – House Speaker William O’Brien, R-Mont Vernon,
personally signed onto legislation that would make New Hampshire
the fourth state to allow concealed guns to be carried without a license,
but law enforcement leaders, gun victims and some gun owner rights
leaders from differing perspectives criticized the plan across the spectrum.

Some attacked it as either a too open-ended policy that threatens
public safety while other Second Amendment defenders said it does
not deliver enough freedom for the right to bear arms.

Rep. Jennifer Coffey, R-Andover, said her bill (HB 330) may need
some tweaking but the current system of licenses to carry conflict
with individual rights under federal and state Constitutions.

“Like anything else we do, it’s rare a bill goes through without amendment.
This can and will be worked out,” Coffee said during an interview
after a public hearing Thursday.

“We are not going to be first but we don’t want to be last.”

O’Brien signed on to an amended form of the bill that is in the House
GOP agenda for 2011 and has the backing of Senate Majority Leader
Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, and Majority Whip Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry.

Vermont, Alaska and Arizona all require no licenses to carry concealed weapons.
This bill also aims to let non-residents carry a concealed weapon
without a license if they are licensed to carry at home or come from
a state without licenses.

Sam Cohen is executive vice president and CEO of Pro Guns NH Inc.,
a group on which O’Brien sits as a board member. Former Senate
Majority Leader Robert Clegg, of Hudson, is its president.

“New Hampshire should not be left in the cold when national
reciprocity passes,” Cohen said, but Salem Police Chief Paul
Donovan, a life member of the National Rifle Association, said the
current licenses are not an obstruction to law-abiding citizens but
a critical backstop for police.

“It protects the public for those who are not suitable for carrying
a concealed handgun,” Donovan said. “Allowing anyone to carry
concealed with no licensing requirement also leaves our local
businesses open to increased risk of armed robbery.”

A license-less state would be an enforcement nightmare for law
enforcement especially in border towns that face threats from drug
dealers and street gangs, Donovan warned.

“Are we going to see road rage incidents rise to assaults with a
dangerous weapon?” Donovan asked.

“This bill may possibly work in northern towns, but it is a dangerous
prospect for southern tier border towns where we have many out-of-
state shoppers and visitors.”

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and State Police also
opposed the measure.

Kate Harris, a child psychologist from Dover, said suicides by guns
are epidemic in the U.S. and this bill would increase the risk of
wanton street violence.


The licenses are estimated to raise $750,000 for the Fish and Game
Department in 2012 and up to a quarter of that in cities and towns.
Claire Ebel, executive director of the Civil Liberties Union, said the
loss of such revenue should give lawmakers pause and she claimed
the bill is fatally flawed.

“HB 330 is a classic example of not ready for prime time. The language
of the bill and existence of several amendments underscore the lack
of readiness for this bill,” Ebel said.

The New Hampshire Firearms Coalition, a rival pro-Second Amendment
group, opposes this bill and favors a wide-open alternative (HB 536)
that Rep. J.R. Hoell, R-Dunbarton, authors and O’Brien opposes.

“While NHFC stands in strong, unwavering support of the principle
that no person should be required to beg for government permission
in order to exercise their right to keep and bear arms, this bill falls
short of accomplishing that goal,” said NHFC President Jonathan Evans.

Rep. David Welch, R-Kingston, has spent a quarter century working
on the state’s concealed license law and agrees with O’Brien that
it’s time to go.

“I believe law-abiding citizens are not a problem.
I support constitutional carry,” Welch said.

[All emfasis has been added by David.]