On Dec. 22, 2012, in an act of misguided revenge against gun-owners, New York’s Journal News published the names and addresses of 33,614 handgun permit holders in several counties just north of New York City. The paper obtained the list from county public records. Though citizen reaction was swift and fierce, it did nothing to repair the damage. Permit holders were subject to harassment and criminals in those areas had a trick-or-treat map of homes that were likely not protected by guns, making the latter more vulnerable to robbery and assault. Yet, the paper’s publisher defended the action as an obligation to report pertinent news. I disagree. Like many, I take a grim view of anyone violating the private exercise of my Constitutional rights without due process, whether that information is private or not.

There is a more dangerous aspect to this story, though; the very existence of a government held and controlled list that could be released to the public on the whimsy of an unelected bureaucrat. No such list exists in our state and I pray it never will. Gun owners in New Hampshire do not have to fear being targeted or harassed because here gun ownership is a private matter. We need to keep it that way.

But our fate regarding the protection of our 2nd Amendment rights may not rest solely in Concord. Imagine that the restrictive gun laws and registration rolls required in NY and other big city states were now required of Granite Staters by federal law. That is the exact purpose of House Resolution 5717 which requires a Federal Firearms Owners License (FFOL) to own a gun. HR 5717 now sits in the Democratic run Energy and Commerce Committee which has as one of its members, our Congresswoman Ann Kuster. That is a very scary prospect for me, as it should be for all of us in NH.

Among its many egregious anti-liberty provisions, HR 5717 calls for:

• Establishing federal eligibility requirements to receive a FFOL with many provisions that could lead the approval body, the US Justice Department, to deny it. Since when does a Constitutional Right require an eligibility requirement? Of course, this would establish a national registry of FFOL holders, making them vulnerable to the same harassment experienced by the NY permit holders. The joke is that the registry will be filled with law-abiding gun owners. Criminals don’t tend to apply for licenses to own guns with which they commit crimes. Washington logic still baffles most clear thinking Granite Staters.

• Outright banning many classes of firearms and ammunition currently not banned in NH and many other states. Also, the bans would be retroactive, requiring current owners to turn-in those weapons.

• Imposing a 30% tax on all firearms and a 50% tax on all ammunition.

These and the rest of HR5717 amount to a wish list of provisions against gun rights that Washington Democrats have been pushing for decades. Combined with several Red Flag laws that stomp all over the Constitutional right to due process, Washington cronyism – Kuster Kronyism – is again trying to impose its agenda on individual states, including ours. HR 5717 will pass through the committee and subcommittee of Ann Kuster, the Queen of Washington cronyism, and eventually it will come to the House floor for vote. Either by direction of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), her own predilection, or both, Congresswoman Kuster will no doubt vote for HR5717, subjugating Granite Staters and every other American to the same tyrannical laws of NY and other large Democratic-run states. Again, she will ignore the will of the people of New Hampshire in favor of her Washington DC cronies.

Current events involving government retraction of our liberties in the wake of COVID-19, anarchist movements in Seattle, Portland and elsewhere, and lawlessness in Democratic-run cities throughout the country, now make it more important than ever for American citizens to be staunch defenders of our precious First Amendment rights. In New Hampshire, we know the Second Amendment protects the First. Our current congresswoman is a Constitution Shredder, and I do not trust “Gun Grabber Ann” with this precious and solemn responsibility, and I doubt many others do anymore either, if they ever did. Given the opportunity by the people of NH CD-02 to replace her and represent them as their next congressman, I will vote against HR 5717 and any such law like it, protecting not only the rights and liberties of Granite Staters, but also the Constitution that made and keeps America great.

Steve Negron is a candidate for New Hampshire’s Second Congressional District House seat.

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