NH "Red Flag bill" HB687 will be sent to Governor on 8/5, time to call (updated 8/4), HB1660 was VETOED on 6/28!!!

Good news, the House range closure bill HB1115: relative to the discharge of a firearm in the compact part of a city or town. died with only 6 house members supporting it. At this point, we have killed about 1/2 of these years bills.
 
... the 2020 'HB1660 Eldercare Gun Confiscation Act' ...
1. This is BEFORE the standard crossover deadline of the end of March.
2. This is also AFTER the standard 2nd house committee (CJ&PS) waived off the 2nd committee session so as NOT to hear from the gun owners. This is VERY untypical.
3. This is before they have even made a committee decision on SB677.
This is clear evidence that they want to push this bill though the legislature and get it to the Governor's desk before the other bills. NOW is time to call the Governor ...
Well, they just did that. We NEED to get involved NOW!!!
CALL 603-271-2121, the Governors office
Lots of EXCEPTIONAL THINGS happening here. Why?


For the record, HB687 (The initial Red Flag bill from last year) which passed the House on January 9th) still has not been introduced into the Senate, but the bill that passed last week already has a hearing. The Anti-Gun Dems had just made this their # 1 priority to pass this year. ...

Why do you suppose this is?
 
@design thank you for your tireless efforts
@design even showed up to the gallery late last night to joint us, after midnight.

Contrary to custom and practice in the House, no Democrats stood up to welcome him when the Speaker announced his presence in the gallery.

Gee, I wonder why?
 
Docket and bill updated: Bill is headed to enrolled bills and then to the Governor.... This process has no strict timelines. It can take place in several hours or it can take place in several months. I've seen both.
Since the state house is closed, here is a easy way to contact the Governor that you can do from home. SHARE the link with your friends via email. Make sure that they contact the Governor.

 

Attachments

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V. In any proceeding under this chapter, the court shall not be bound by the technical rules of evidence and may admit evidence which it considers relevant and material.

Rules? We don't need no stinkin' rules!

I. Upon a showing of an immediate and present danger of abuse, exploitation, or neglect, the court may enter temporary orders to protect the plaintiff with or without actual notice to defendant.
 
Docket and bill updated: Bill is headed to enrolled bills and then to the Governor.... This process has no strict timelines. It can take place in several hours or it can take place in several months. I've seen both.
Since the state house is closed, here is a easy way to contact the Governor that you can do from home. SHARE the link with your friends via email. Make sure that they contact the Governor.


Done, for what it's worth.
 
I was going back in history and saw this news article regarding the companion bill to HB1660:


From 6 months ago. NHFC took the lead to stop SB677 and they were successful. With the veto of HB1660, the companion bill to SB677, we have been able to kill all but one anti-gun bill. The fate of the last bill (HB687 is likely a veto), but that event has not happened. If HB687, is vetoed, NH residents and the local and national gun groups will have killed over 25 anti-gun bills in just 2020.
Moral of the story: Never, Never give up and Never compromise!

Capital Beat: Sununu, gun rights groups split over vulnerable adults bill

By ETHAN DeWITT

Monitor staff

Published: 2/1/2020 9:00:12 PM
Gov. Chris Sununu issued a number of vetoes in 2019 – 57, famously. Only one of them was accompanied by a two-page letter of explanation.
That would be House Bill 696, an effort to establish a procedure for protective orders for vulnerable adults. The bill would have given recourse to older Granite Staters hit by financial crimes, allowing them, for instance, to immediately block fund transfers to the suspect’s account.
The proposal had strong support from legal aid advocates. But it also included a provision allowing the confiscation of “any deadly weapon” involved in that abuse. Bolstered by firearms groups, Sununu vetoed the bill, citing potential confusion with existing domestic violence protective orders and Second Amendment violations.

Now the bill is back as Senate Bill 677, this time with Sununu’s support.

But firearms groups are still split over their position on it. And how that opposition ebbs and flows in the next few months could affect the bill’s future.



“This week there is a nasty anti-gun bill, SB 677, ‘Eldercare Gun Confiscation,’ ” said J.R. Hoell, the secretary of the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition, in an email to supporters.

The conflict came even despite an amendment meant to address gun owners’ concerns. The new change to the bill, submitted by Republican Sen. Jeb Bradley, strips any reference to firearms or deadly weapons in the text.

Still, some see it as an instant non-starter.

“Not only is the bill bad, but the amendment does nothing to fix the issues,” Hoell argued.

To Hoell, even if the state law does not mention guns, creating a new order could allow for firearm confiscation through federal law.

That’s because of what is known as the “Lautenberg Amendment,” a 1997 addition to a federal statute that prohibits firearms possession for those issued protection orders for domestic abuse.

Even though the vulnerable adult order would not entail an outright ban of firearms, if a person applied for one and met the domestic violence criteria under the Lautenberg law, the court could remove firearms from the alleged abuser, Hoell argued.

Hoell also cited issues with due process for those on the other end of the protective order.

But other gun groups disagree with the Lautenberg interpretation.

The National Rifle Association appears satisfied, at least to the point that it isn’t opposing the bill. In a Jan. 28 email to the Senate Judiciary Committee, NRA State Director Lauren LePage said the organization believed the changes made in the new version did not trample on gun rights.

“I understand that this amendment ensures that law-abiding individuals will not be threatened with the unconstitutional removal of their personal property,” LePage wrote.

It’s a split that could pose political challenges to Sununu, who supports the vulnerable adult protection order but has also been a steadfast supporter of gun rights in office.

In 2016, Sununu gave a nod to some gun control advocates by stating his support for universal background checks in a gubernatorial debate.

But largely, the governor has stood firmly with gun rights supporters, signing in a concealed carry bill in his first few months in office and vetoing a raft of bills last year sent by Democrats.

Still, Sununu has supported the efforts to introduce a vulnerable adults protective order, which advocates say is necessary in a rapidly aging state with little immediate recourse for victims of financial crimes. New Hampshire currently has protective orders available for victims of domestic violence and stalking.

In a statement Friday, Ben Vihstadt, a spokesman for the governor, said Sununu remained committed even through any bumps in the process.

“The governor supports passing legislation to protect vulnerable adults,” he said. “Our office is currently working with lawmakers and advocates from both sides of this issue so that we can come to a consensus and get this done.”

And Bradley, the prime sponsor of the new bill, said that he has sought out legal advice from the Attorney General’s Office on whether the concerns have legal merit.

Meanwhile, for supporters of the bill the concerns are overblown.

“We’ve heard a lot about this bill violating the constitution,” said Cheryl Steinberg, the senior law project director for New Hampshire Legal Assistance. “All I can say is it’s based on an already existing (state) law … which has been in effect for 20 years; it’s constitutionally sound.”

And she said that the Lautenberg Amendment would not likely apply because the criteria are so narrow that they’d only apply to those who qualified for domestic violence orders anyway.

Meanwhile, Steinberg said, the bill would allow speedy judicial relief for seniors, people with disabilities and others, which would ordinarily be cumbersome and expensive to obtain.

The effort will move forward to an executive vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is likely to support it.

But as gun groups continue to coalesce, the governor’s support may still be a moving target.



(Ethan DeWitt can be reached at [email protected], at (603) 369-3307, or on Twitter at @edewittNH.)
 
Hey #design , what is that thing sticking out of the shotgun in your profile picture? Looks like a coathook.
 
For all those gun owners that want to move to NH, do so, and soon. Please also remember, finger prints, licenses, FID cards, government permission slips, hardware restrictions, ammo limits and any ideas that are remotely similar to any of those need to be left at the border. In NH, unless prohibited it is allowed and we want to keep it that way!

PS. Plan to spend some time in Concord to protect those rights.
 
HB687 has been signed by the Senate President. It is headed to the Governors desk (Speaker still needs to sign, but that could have taken place today)
 
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