New Hampshire: Permitless Carry Bill Scheduled for Hearing in the Senate

It's good to see our rights being strengthened instead of the opposite, for once:

Monday, April 18, 2011

This Wednesday, April 20, the state Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on legislation to allow a law-abiding person to possess a concealed firearm without a license. This committee is scheduled to meet at 1:15 p.m. in SH 100. Alaska, Arizona and Vermont already allow the carrying of a concealed firearm without a permit. Wyoming recently enacted a permitless carry law that will go into effect this July and Montana now has a bill awaiting final consideration by the legislature before it heads to the Governor. New Hampshire could be the sixth state to further extend the Second Amendment rights for its citizens.

HB 330, introduced by state Representative Jennifer Coffey (R- Merrimack 6), is focused on allowing any person who can legally carry a firearm to possess a firearm openly or concealed without obtaining a license. The current license system would remain in place for those individuals who wish to carry concealed in states that recognize New Hampshire’s license.

www.nraila.org...

Reply to post by mishigas

Jen Coffey is awesome.

There's a great pic of her peeling a "no guns allowed" sticker off of a window at the state house with knife in hand a big smile on her face.

The permit here doesn't really serve any purpose. It isn't tied to any training requirements or anything. Of course you'd be hard pressed to find an untrained resident in NH.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

I totally agree it's very refreshing to see politicians fighting for just causes. NH just keeps blowing me away! (pun intended)

Here's a question for the general public: do you make the fact that you own/carry firearms public knowledge? I don't. I've had friends and neighbors over to my place dozens of times, and none of them are aware that I am usually less than 20ft from a loaded firearm. It's not that I'm paranoid, I just happen to have several firearms because of my hobbies and interests, and my house is tiny.

Reply to post by mishigas

I don't think I have any friends or family who don't carry, compete or at least own a gun.

I wouldn't go around announcing it. I don't go around announcing anything. If it came up and I were asked directly I wouldn't lie. Maybe I'd be somewhat reserved with details and specifics but I wouldn't lie.


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Seeing things like this really make me question my belief that the Big Bad Government is trying to take my guns away. I am excited to see a law like this pass. I have a concealed carry permit and I sometimes open carry and sometimes concealed carry and sometimes both at the same time. I live in North Carolina which is a pretty good state about gun laws IMO. OTHER than the fact that getting a concealed carry permit in my city can take from 6 to 8 months I am proud of the firearms laws we have here. I would love to see the concept of a permit requirement go away though.

reply to post by idonotcollectstamps

Seeing things like this really make me question my belief that the Big Bad Government is trying to take my guns away.

Yes, most good decisions like this come from state-level laws, not federal. I don't know if the feds could pass a law overriding the state in this matter; I surely hope not.

I live in North Carolina which is a pretty good state about gun laws IMO. OTHER than the fact that getting a concealed carry permit in my city can take from 6 to 8 months I am proud of the firearms laws we have here. I would love to see the concept of a permit requirement go away though.

Six to eight months seems to be a pretty long time. Why is that? It doesn't take that long for background checks. Is it because of "cooling down periods"?

Every time I see laws about guns I just replace the word gun with "Free speech". It really shows you how over reaching the government is, they make us buy permits to exercise a right. I'm glad this bill is being introduced.

reply to post by mishigas


It takes from two weeks to a month for an appointment to take a firearms safety course.

It takes about 3-4 months for an appointment to apply for your permit with the Sheriffs office. They say they are far too backlogged and do not have enough employees. After three to four months of wait you will have your appointment to go down to the Sheriffs Office. You go down fill out forms and fingerprints. Then go home and wait another 2-3 months for the background check to go through. They have to check with local insane asylums since there is no federal medical mental health computer. And you have to wait for the FBI to perform their background check as well. Then once they are all done they will tell you to come down and pick up the permit.

100 dollars for the concealed carry course, 100 dollars for the permit, 6-8 months time frame. Kind of awfully vomit rage inducing period of time but I follow the rules as long as I can own a handgun.

As long as there are no handgun confiscations then we are doing good IMO. Even though you can get a permit in less than three hours to operate a 2 1/2 ton automobile filled with 30 gallons of 93 octane liquid fuel and propel it at speeds of 70 miles per hour...at least there are no handgun confiscations and homes being searched and raided for handguns. Lol.

reply to post by idonotcollectstamps

100 dollars for the concealed carry course, 100 dollars for the permit, 6-8 months time frame. Kind of awfully vomit rage inducing period of time but I follow the rules as long as I can own a handgun.

That's a pretty sane way of looking at it, given what the process is. Doesn't seem to be any unreasonable hoops to jump through.

As long as there are no handgun confiscations then we are doing good IMO. Even though you can get a permit in less than three hours to operate a 2 1/2 ton automobile filled with 30 gallons of 93 octane liquid fuel and propel it at speeds of 70 miles per hour...at least there are no handgun confiscations and homes being searched and raided for handguns. Lol.

True that.

Reply to post by mishigas

I used to live in a 6-8 month waiting place.

The excuse I got from several cops at the time was that they're essentially hoping you forget about it or give up on it.

After 6 weeks I called my PD and they fed me some line about how they had been trying to contact me to tell me it was ready and I picked it up that day.

After the background check, which takes a day tops, they just sit in a box waiting for you to give up on it.


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Reply to post by mishigas

Training is perhaps reasonable. Charging is not.

A lot of these people are poor living in pop neighborhoods. They live around filth and feel a need to protect themselves. They cannot afford these ridiculous fees.

Which is why NYC is being sued right now for their absurd fees.


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reply to post by thisguyrighthere

Training is perhaps reasonable. Charging is not.

A lot of these people are poor living in pop neighborhoods. They live around filth and feel a need to protect themselves. They cannot afford these ridiculous fees.

Which is why NYC is being sued right now for their absurd fees.

I read his post and blew right past the money. Two hundred bucks is much too high. I don't have any problem with the idea of training, though.