NH Senate Says OK To Constitutional Carry Bill, Governor Threatens To Veto

By Johannes Paulsen. Republished with permission from TheTruthAboutGuns.com

The New Hampshire Senate passed Senate Bill 116, which would repeal the licensing requirement for carrying a concealed pistol or revolver, bringing the state’s firearms carry law in line with neighboring Vermont. The bill was passed earlier by the New Hampshire House, so it will now go to the desk of Governor Maggie Hassan…who has promised to veto it, in a statement from her official website . . .

New Hampshire’s current concealed carry permitting law has worked well for nearly a century – ensuring the Second Amendment rights of our citizens while helping to keep the Granite State one of the safest states in the nation. Law enforcement, as well as citizens across New Hampshire, have strong public safety concerns about allowing people to carry concealed guns without a license and oppose removing the protections that the licensing process offers to help ensure that potentially dangerous individuals are not allowed to carry hidden weapons.

Our permitting system gives an important oversight role to local law enforcement, while allowing for appeals through appropriate channels. In his book Live Free or Die, Republican Governor Mel Thomson said that the current permitting process for concealed carry is ‘a sensible handgun law that leaves the issuance of handgun permits to the discretion of [local law enforcement]’. That is as true today as it was then. By passing Senate Bill 116, the legislature would be taking a step away from our tradition of common-sense gun laws, and I intend to veto this measure if it passes.”

Under current law, New Hampshire is, after all, a shall-issue state, meaning that local law enforcement has exactly zero discretion in issuing licenses to all qualifying persons. For that reason, the quotation from the late Governor Thomson rings false. Perhaps the Governor should spend a little more time examining the law before hastily making veto threats.