Certainly we all agree that the growing frequency of death by firearms in this country is alarming. With this common concern in mind, New Hampshire citizens should know how their legislators in Concord have voted recently on measures to protect citizens from semi-automatic weapons and from disturbed persons who would buy them.

Despite increasing calls for gun safety, no Republican legislator voted against House Bill 1178, which exempts New Hampshire from any federal gun safety laws. Gov. Chris Sununu, who has shown zero leadership in retarding gun tragedy, signed the bill into law on June 24. It prohibits the state or any county or city or town in NH from enforcing any federal law “inconsistent with any law of this state regarding the regulation of firearms, ammunition, magazines or the ammunition feeding devices, firearm components, firearms supplies, or knives.”

Perhaps even more shocking, this spring the NH legislature defeated a bill (HB 1096) which would have prohibited open carry or display of a deadly weapon within 100 feet of a polling place. Only a single Republican State Representative voted in favor of this bill. Also this spring, the Republicans defeated another bill (HB 1668) which would have required background checks for the commercial sale of firearms. Again, Republican state representatives voted to defeat this common sense measure.

On March 16, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action published a press release thanking the New Hampshire legislators who voted down HB 1096 and HB 1668. Don’t we need senators and representatives in Concord who are more responsive to the safety of our schools and our community, and less responsive to the NRA?

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