Most New Hampshire residents are very familiar with the states incredible record on protecting the natural rights to property and self-defense. In no uncertain terms, the Article 2-A of the New Hampshire Constitution states that “All persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state.” New Hampshire is one of the only states whose gun laws are trending towards the direction of liberty. In 2017, the state repealed its permit requirement for concealed carry. Currently, there are no laws concerning firearms in the state, and it remains the safest state in the US. In fact, New Hampshire law goes so far that it prohibits the government from destroying any firearms surrendered to them. Other than a few radical, anti-freedom progressive Democrats, everyone in New Hampshire supports the right to own firearms unrestricted by politicians.
Democrats spent quite a bit of political capital last year attempting to restrict firearms and related accessories. Fortunately, Governor Sununu vetoed the four anti-gun bills that the Democratic House and Senate passed. Now that the 2020 legislative session has begun, the anti-freedom politicians are back to work. One of those radical anti-freedom politicians (who happens to be the chairman of the committee that deals with gun control laws) wants to chip away at our state’s great gun culture in a unique way. Remember the law that prohibits a government entity from destroying firearms surrendered or ‘bought’ by the government? He wants to repeal that law. Of course, HB1374 is the necessary precursor that would have to pass in order for New Hampshire to replicate the ‘buyback & destroy program’ used in socialist anti-freedom states like New York and California.
Not surprisingly considering the sponsor’s party, the bill is very fiscally asinine and unnecessarily wasteful. Imagine the scenario: A new widow surrenders 17 valuable firearms to the local police department because she is not comfortable using them. Instead of using them or auctioning them off for real money – which could be used to fund education, roads, or any other government function instead of unnecessary taxes – this politician seemingly hates guns so much that he would prefer to destroy them and let their value go to waste instead of using the revenue from the sale to offset taxes and/or pay for poor children to get the education, housing, and food that his party often claims they desperately need.
If you do not want the politicians who run New Hampshire to grant themselves permission to destroy firearms that they collect (or confiscate), make sure to email the sponsor and ask him to rescind his proposed bill, email the House Criminal Justice Committee and tell them to recommend scrapping the bill, and email your legislators and ask them to oppose the bill.
