Gun Control Coming to New Hampshire

Here is the latest shoe to drop in New Hampshire, gun control.

Last November the voters of New Hampshire decided to send the president a message about the Iraq war. They did this by sending two new United States Reps. to Washington. That was fine, I understand that, but they also replaced the conservative state government with a liberal state government. I still can’t figure out how they thought that was also sending a message to the president. Ignorance of how the political system works is now coming back to haunt us. New Hampshire voters are now paying the price for it. First we started getting many nanny state legislation, which you can read about in my archives just search nanny state, and now we are hearing rumblings about gun control:

Some of the state’s police chiefs say they would be happy to have clearer rules on issuing – and revoking – permits for people to carry concealed guns.

“There’s literally no definition of what’s a suitable standard to hand out a permit,” said Bradford Police Chief Jim Valiquet, president of the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police.

They site this case as reasoning behind stricter laws on concealed carry permits:

Alexander said he received a concealed-carry application last year from a Lebanon resident he said was a known member of a criminal gang, although the man had never been convicted of a felony. When Alexander denied the man a permit, the man successfully appealed to the local district court.

While I agree this man should not have a gun, denying this man a conceal weapons permit would not have stopped him from legally purchasing a gun in the state of New Hampshire.

All you need to buy a handgun in New Hampshire is a drivers licence. Not only that but according to New Hampshire law:

Carrying Without a License: It is illegal, under New Hampshire law, to carry a pistol or revolver concealed upon your person, except in your dwelling or house, or place of business, without a license;

You are allowed to carry a weapon on your person without a license as long as it is not concealed. You may also transport a weapon as long as it is unloaded. So making the laws more strict concerning concealed carry would not have stopped this man at all. He still would have been allowed to buy a gun and carry it, just not concealed.

So why then are they using this case against concealed weapons?This is just the first rumbling, first they talk about restricting concealed permits and then it continues from there. They have taken one case and will use it as a standard to restrict guns and ownership of guns. It won’t stop with concealed weapons, that is just the catalyst.

New Hampshire residents have always prided themselves as being independent with minimal government intrusion. Thanks to last November’s election we are turning into Upper Massachusetts, or East Vermont if you prefer.