After Campus Carry Debacle, NH Lawmakers Find Common Ground on Another Carry Bill

I’m not going rehash the embarrassing end to the campus carry bill that died an ignominious death this session after New Hampshire’s Republican-controlled House and Senate couldn’t even agree to sent the bill to a conference committee to work out the differences in opinion about what the final bill should look like. Suffice it to say I’m a little salty about the fate of that bill. I’m a little more optimistic, though, about another carry measure that is moving forward, and could soon provide more protections (and opportunities) to carry in public buildings.  

HB 609’s author, Rep. Sam Farrington (who also sponsored the campus carry legislation) says he became concerned about the issue of state agency rules on firearms after learning the that state’s Department of Transportation has a policy prohibiting contracted snowplow operators to lawfully carry guns with them in their vehicles. 

Farrington’s bill originally would have killed off every existing rule by 2029 unless it was specifically renewed by the state legislature. Under an agreement reached by the House and Senate leadership, some rules may still remain, but agencies will have to work with a legislative committee that will have the authority to approve or deny the policies.

A key part of the compromise reached will allow state agencies to seek approval of weapon restrictions by adopting permanent rules through the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (JLCAR).

House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee Chairman Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, said using rulemaking would avoid the need for each accommodation to require a separate bill through the Legislature.

“I can think of hundreds of situations in state agencies where one of them (gun possession) would be problematic in the workplace. For example, you wouldn’t want someone going down into a manhole with a loaded gun in their pocket,” Roy said.

Sen. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, who is chairman of the JLCAR panel, said existing policies have never come before his group because state agencies have adopted “interim rules” on their own.

“Right now, we have no say in what they do with their own rules. We want legislative oversight,” Lang said.

That seems reasonable enough, at least in theory. Are there really hundreds of situations where bearing arms would be “problematic” on the clock, though? Anti-gunners would certainly agree with Roy’s assessment, but in my mind prohibitions on carrying should be the exception, not the rule. 

While much of the debate about HB 609 dealt with state employees or contractors, the new rules may also apply to lawful gun owners in general.

Republican Rep. Erica Layon told the New Hampshire Union-Leader tha she wanted to make certain lawmakers did not create an “easy end-around” for state agencies to limit the rights of gun owners in the Live Free or Die State. 

New Hampshire’s firearm preemption law has been in place for more than 20 years, so it’s unclear to me whether the DOT even had the authority to prohibit snowplow operators from carrying on the clock to begin with, but under the agreement reached by Republican leaders in both chambers, firearms, knives, stun guns, pepper spray, and “other self-defense tools” will all be covered by the preemption language. 

Both the House and Senate still have to agree to the compromise reached by leadership, and while the Union-Leader says that the bill is expected to “easily win approval” given the GOP majorities in both chambers, the untimely demise of the campus carry bill is proof that passing pro-Second Amendment legislation isn’t guaranteed. Hopefully this bill will move forward, since it will still take a separate vote to agree to what rules the committee ultimately approves. If the committee’s recommendations aren’t in line with the Second Amendment, lawmakers will still have the opportunity to say “no”… and hopefully send committee members back to the drawing table for a do-over.  

Editor’s Note: President Trump and most Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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