[Posted February 18, 2010, at 8:30 p.m.] The following has been posted on the website of Gun Owners of New Hampshire (GO-NH), www.gonh.org , with the sentence including "PGHN" [sic] printed in red:
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At a hearing on HB 1161 GO-NH, Inc. pointed out that the bill sponsored by an advisor to PGNH was seriously flawed. (PGHN testified in favor of this bill without amendments). This bill, if enacted as introduced by a PGNH advisor, would have prohibited all retail sales of pistols and revolvers in New Hampshire!! and needed amended. The bill has since been amended (see below Amendment to HB 1161); however it needs further amendments, as the amendment proposed does not go far enough (see below).
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First, some background on this bill:
At last summer's meeting of the Pro-Gun New Hampshire Council of Advisors, several ideas were discussed for new legislation. One was the repeal of the statute, RSA 159:8, that required a town or city license to "sell at retail pistols and revolvers." This is an obsolete statute, since the federal Gun Control Act of 1968 imposed licensing requirements on gun dealers much more severe than a mere town license. PGNH Advisor John Tholl, chief of police of Dalton, observed that many town selectmen, and even some gun stores, were not aware of RSA 159:8. PGNH Advisor Dan Eaton, majority floor leader in the NH House of Representatives, and a former chief of police, volunteered to submit an appropriate bill, which became HB1161. The bill called for the repeal of RSAs 159:8 and the related statutes 159:8-a and 159:8-b.
The hearing on HB1161 was held on January 19 before the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. After Dan Eaton's testimony, James Wheeler testified, suggesting that RSA 159:10 should be included in the list of statutes to be repealed. Sam Cohen then testified for Pro-Gun New Hampshire; since Sam didn't have a copy of the RSAs handy at the hearing, his testimony simply confirmed what Representative Eaton had said, by relating the experience of John Tholl, mentioning that John was a former member (and vice chair) of the committee. Sam also explained the federal licensing requirements. Finally, Penny Dean testified for Gun Owners of New Hampshire, also calling for the inclusion of RSA 159:10 in the repeal. Then, immediately after the hearing, Sam spoke with Representative Dave Welch, a PGNH Advisor and a member of the committee (and in fact its chairman for many years); they examined RSA 159:10 and agreed that Dave would submit a committee amendment to include it among the repealed statutes.
RSA 159:10 is titled "Sale without license," and reads: "Any person who, without being licensed as herein provided, sells, advertises or exposes for sale, or has in his possession with intent to sell, pistols or revolvers shall be guilty of a class B felony if a natural person, or guilty of a felony if any other person."
Two days after the hearing, Sam sent the following email message to both Penny Dean and James Wheeler:
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Penny and James,
Thanks to both of you for pointing out that HB1161 -- which calls for the repeal of RSAs 159:8, 8-a, and 8-b -- missed 159:10, which should have been included. We just overlooked it when we proposed the legislation.
After Tuesday's hearing, I spoke with Dave Welch, who agreed to draft a committee amendment accordingly.
Today I called Dave Welch in his committee office, and noted that the amendment should also modify the language of 159:14 and possibly 159:1 as well (see below); he said that there was time to modify the committee amendment.
RSA 159:1 includes this sentence: "Nothing in this section shall prevent antique pistols, gun canes, or revolvers from being owned or transferred by museums, antique or arms collectors, or licensed gun dealers at auctions, gun shows, or private premises provided such ownership or transfer does not conflict with federal statutes."
RECOMMENDED: strike the word "licensed" from RSA 159:1. (Note: Dave said that "licensed" could be interpreted to mean federally licensed, but he'll consider this change.)
RSA 159:14, in its entirety, says: "None of the provisions of this chapter shall prohibit an individual not licensed under the provisions thereof who is not engaged in the business of selling pistols or revolvers from selling a pistol or revolver to a person licensed under this chapter or to a person personally known to him."
RECOMMENDED: strike the words "not licensed under the provisions thereof " from RSA 159:14.
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Neither replied to this email message. Then, GO-NH posted the "attack" message, shown at the beginning of this article, on its website.
First of all, we (PGNH) object to the misleading implication that we argued against the amendment; see the history of the testimony on this bill, above. Second, we find the GO-NH comment that the unamended bill would have "prohibited all retail sales of pistols and revolvers in New Hampshire!!" unnecessarily alarming, since at worst, the language of RSA 159:10 about being "licensed as herein provided" could be interpreted to mean "licensed to carry per RSA 159:6." ("Herein" means within the chapter, in this case chapter 159; similarly, the language of RSA 159:14 simply means that a private party can sell a handgun to someone either personally known to him, OR to someone with a NH license to carry.) And technical corrections to bills, like the one we all agreed to, are easily made by committee amendments, like the one Rep. Welch initiated. Third, we don't understand why GO-NH should have maligned us in this manner, especially given Sam Cohen's email message to Penny Dean, above. Finally, we would like to point out that it was PGNH who took the initiative to do something about repealing obsolete gun laws.
Both our website and brochure contain this statement: "Please note that Pro-Gun New Hampshire is not in competition with GO-NH; we're a specialized organization formed to "work within the system," and we believe that along with us, Gun Owners of New Hampshire (www.gonh.org) and Second Amendment Sisters (www.2asisters.org) play complementary roles in New Hampshire gun-rights politics."
Remember, PGNH split off from GO-NH four years ago after GO-NH decided to prohibit legislators from serving on their Board of Directors; we believed that there should be a pro-gun organization WITHIN the legislature, rather than one that challenged the legislature. But we have always maintained an attitude of accommodation with GO-NH, and hope that they will reciprocate. New Hampshire is too small a state to tolerate division among its Second Amendment supporters.
GO-NH is the NRA state affiliate organization for New Hampshire, and most of us in PGNH leadership are NRA Life members or higher. We believe that our NRA state affiliate should cooperate with rather than attack fellow Second Amendment (and NRA) organizations. If you agree, contact the NRA and tell them. Call NRA-ILA at (800) 392-VOTE (8683), Monday-Friday, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., EST. or email them at https://secure.nraila.org/Contact.aspx .