NH Senate is holding floor votes on the four following bills on Wednesday May 12, 2010. You will need to call or email your Senators immediately!
They are HB 160, HB 1461, HB1447, and HB 1134. (Click on each for text)
HB 160: This bill is “AN ACT relative to physical force in defense of a person…” which would help protect your right to self-defense. The purpose of this bill is straightforward: You should not have to risk being charged as a criminal for brandishing or displaying a firearm or other self-defense tool to ward off a criminal attack. The bill as it is written is not nearly protective enough of your rights, and Senator Letourneau offered a necessary amendment to HB 160. Please contact your senators NOW and ask them to SUPPORT Senator Letourneau’s Amendment to HB 160 (Senator Letourneau’s webpage is here), and tell them that Senator Letourneau’s amendment is necessary to your right to self-defense! (Do not contact Sen. Letourneau)
HB 1461: This is a bill to “regulate” the “display” and “accessibility” of martial arts weapons as defined in RSA 159:24 (sword, knife, spear, throwing star, throwing dart, or nunchaku or any other object designed for use in the martial arts which is capable of being used as a lethal or dangerous weapon) and other deadly weapons as defined in RSA 625:11 V (firearm, knife or other substance or thing which, in the manner it is used, intended to be used, or threatened to be used, is known to be capable of producing death or serious bodily injury). Ask your Senator to ITL this bill.
HB 1447: This bill was never amended to be “gunowner friendly”. CALL OR EMAIL YOUR SENATORS IMMEDIATELY & ASK THEM TO OPPOSE HB 1447 (Who’s My Legislator?). HB 1447 will take decision making authority from your elected officials and give it to the chief of police. The Chief of Police will now be the ONLY person who can allow you to shoot on your own land in a “compact zone”; there will be no provision to appeal the Chief of Police’s decision prohibiting you from shooting on your own land! If this law passes the Chief of Police will be the only person in the state that can, BY LAW decide whether or not a range is “safe”. With no guidelines of what “safe” is, and no method of appeal, if this passes, BY LAW the Chief of Police will be the ONLY PERSON IN THE STATE authorized to decide shooting range safety! Ask your Senators to OPPOSE this bill.
HB 1134: This is a bill which provides for a dangerous undermining of chief local law enforcement authority by bypassing our current system of making the chief law enforcement officer (or highest ranking on duty officer) in a county, city, or town the decision maker determining when to “invite” federal agents into our community, with no requirement for the officer that “invites” the federal agents in to act in New Hampshire to notify their superior officer, chief or other law enforcement official.
HB 1134 proposes to amend RSA 594 by allowing ANY New Hampshire law enforcement officer (no matter how low their rank, ANY law enforcement officer, even one that works one day per month) can now lawfully invite federal agents to “assist” in effecting an arrest of a New Hampshire citizen. A federal agent will now have law enforcement powers in New Hampshire, and if this dangerous bill passes, a federal agent “who observes a person committing what the officer has reasonable grounds to believe is a felony, a misdemeanor constituting a breach of the peace, or an offense under RSA 265-A (motor vehicle laws), may detain such person provided the detention is accomplished in a “reasonable manner” (whatever that is). The officer or special agent may use reasonable and necessary force to effect the detention. . . .” Federal law enforcement officers are regularly transferred. What assurance does the public have that a federal officer even knows what New Hampshire law is?! What about the federal law enforcement officer recently transferred from another state? What is illegal elsewhere may be legal in New Hampshire!
New Hampshire is the second safest state in the nation, and if we need federal law enforcement assistance, there are laws in place whereby the chief law enforcement officer is authorized to request that assistance, a chief law enforcement officer that should have all the facts, and be accountable to New Hampshire citizens. Call your senators and ask them to ITL this dangerous expansion of federal authority in New Hampshire. Ask your Senators to ITL this bill.