Wednesday March 5: House Votes on HB1354 Gun Ban,
HB1379 State Employee Self Defense
During the Wednesday, March 5 session, the full House will vote on
HB1354,
Henniker Democrat Rep. Elanor Kjellman's unconstitutional bill seeking to ban possession of firearms in the State House and LOB except for law-enforcement Lords of the Manor. Even legislators are not exempted.
The bill was voted down in Committee with one dissenting vote from anti-self-defense Manchester Democrat Rep. Nick Levasseur - who lists among his interests on his MySpace profile, "the hunting of neo-conservative Reaganites (a shooting sport brought to you by the republican party in more ways than one!)"
Rep. Levasseur commented on the day of his committee vote that he'd like to see a more sweeping gun ban than the one proposed by Rep. Kjellman:
“The only problem I have with this bill is that it only bans handguns in the Legislative Office Building and the State House. I have personal issues with handguns in general, which compels me to, you know, be in favor of this bill."
Regardless of Rep. Levasseur's "personal issues," The bill is in clear violation of the unambiguous terms of Article 2a of the New Hampshire Constitution which both he and Rep. Kjellman swore a solemn oath to uphold, as did all of those who will be voting on the committee recommendation on March 5.
The House will also vote on HB1379, sponsored by pro-freedom Reps. Soucy, Welch, and Hogan, which prohibits state agencies from stripping state employees or contractors of their Article 2a right to armed self-defense while on or in state property, which was "referred to interim study" by a unanimous vote of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety committee.
Many other important pro- and anti-liberty bills will also be decided by the full house on March 5, including defender of liberty Rep. Dan Itse's bill HB1543, to restore a formal procedure for petition for redress of grievances. A complete list is available at the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance site.
