Pro-Gun New Hampshire

[Posted October 23, 2009, at 7:45 p.m.] 

Introduction by Sam Cohen, Executive Vice President, Pro-Gun New Hampshire, Inc.:

Jennifer Coffey is a New Hampshire state representative; the National Coordinator, and a Director, of Second Amendment Sisters; a hospital staffer and EMT; and a member of the Pro-Gun New Hampshire Council of Advisors.  She has submitted a bill in the New Hampshire legislature (LSR 2010-2015 - no bill number assigned as of yet) to both legalize the carrying of automatic and other knives and enhance the criminal penalty for their use in a crime.  Attorney Evan Nappen, PGNH General Counsel, is a knife collector and author of many articles in various knife magazines; he helped develop the bill.

NH State Rep. Dan Itse has submitted HCR 6, a resolution to assert states' rights and, in particular, to maintain the right of the people to keep and bear arms in the face of federal infringement.  Seven other states have introduced similar resolutions, and analysts predict that 20 other states will follow this year.  (The Oklahoma House of Representatives passed their version overwhelmingly, 93 to 2; see http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=67229 .) The full text of New Hampshire's HCR 6 is available at http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2009/HCR0006.html .  Note that co-sponsors Rep. Ingbretson and Sen. Denley are Pro-Gun New Hampshire Advisors.  Although the State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs Committee voted it Inexpedient to Legislate on a party-line vote -- with nobody testifying against it -- the full House of Representatives can overturn the committee vote.  The House vote is scheduled for Wednesday, March 4, and there will be a rally at the State House at 8:00 a.m.  Bring signs to show the arriving state representatives that you support this measure.  Also, PGNH Advisor Rep. Bob Mead posted the following message on 2/15/09:

Some Issues Regarding HB 160

By Evan Nappen, Esq.

Pro-Gun New Hampshire, Inc.

Corporate Counsel and Director

January 29, 2009

 

HB 160 is well intentioned, but there are issues with the bill as written.

They are as follows:

1)      HB 160 States:

1 Physical Force in Defense of a Person. Amend RSA 627:4, II(d) to read as follows:

January 29, 2009

TESTIMONY before the New Hampshire House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee in support of HB160:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Committee:

There is a common theme in the opposition to bills that support the individual right to self-defense:  that there will be “blood in the streets.”  Many of those not familiar with guns believe that when a person becomes armed, either the gun itself becomes unpredictably dangerous — like a deadly snake — or the person cannot be trusted to control the alluring power of lethal force.  The latter assumption is what psychologists call the “precipice syndrome,” named for the feeling that when you look over the edge of a precipice, there is an instinctual fear of an irrational desire to step off the cliff.

But, as with actual precipices, the reality is that when people acquire the means of deadly force, they become more responsible, not less, and this has been proven unequivocally by recent history.

January 15, 2009: The Board of Directors of Pro-Gun New Hampshire (PGNH) is forwarding the following notice from State Representative Bob Mead to all PGNH members.  Note: Representative Mead and Senator Letourneau are Advisors of Pro-Gun New Hampshire. 

When you attend the hearing, please remember to wear your PGNH lapel pin.  If you testify, keep it short -- even a minute is good -- but if you don't, just show up and sign the "blue sheet" to show that you support the bill.  [Addendum 1/27/09: It has been pointed out that legislative committees are much more impressed by a large number of "pink cards" -- which declare your intent to testify -- than by the number of signatures on the "blue sheets" -- which just tally non-testifying visitors' support or opposition to a bill.]

March 19, 2008: Yesterday, the NH House of Representatives voted 279 to 19 to defeat Representative Eleanor Kjellman's HB1354, the bill to ban firearms in the State House and Legislative Office Building. Today, she moved for "reconsideration" -- apparently because she inadvertently voted against her own bill yesterday. Her motion failed, 249 to 56.

The following 19 reps voted FOR the bill yesterday (note, a "Nay" vote means disagreement with the committee recommendation to kill the bill):