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Panel weighs all arguments in gun bill debate
CONCORD — State senators said they will try to balance security needs and the right to bear arms as they decide what recommendation to make on a bill that would prohibit public colleges and universities, and any group, organization or business that uses public lands or publicly owned or financed buildings from banning firearms.
Law enforcement and college officials as well as gun rights activists filled a State House hearing room Thursday as the Senate Judiciary Committee held public hearings on three bills that would make the state’s firearm laws more lenient.
The most controversial, House Bill 334, would prohibit public colleges from banning firearms on campuses, and would also prohibit banning firearms from facilities like the Verizon Wireless Arena, Merchantsauto.com Stadium, the state hospital and state-owned buildings at Pease International Tradeport.
Manchester Police Chief David Mara said the Verizon Wireless Arena hosts hockey games and concerts that draw 10,000 people. Allowing people to carry guns and knives at those events, “would be a very dangerous situation,” he said.
“It doesn’t come down to the right to carry, it comes down to a safety issue,” Mara told the committee.
The bill’s intent is to prevent “a bunch of little jurisdictions throughout the state for gun regulations,” said one of the bill’s sponsors, Rep. J.R. Hoell, R-Dunbarton. “We want to be sure there is not a patchwork quilt of regulations for gun owners and those who carry.”
The bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Steve Cunningham, R-Sunapee, proposed a change to the bill to make it clear the Legislature is the only authority in the state to set firearms policy in publicly owned or financed buildings, or on state land.
“Various committees, department heads and bureaucrats have taken (state) to mean that they have that authority,” Cunningham said. “This will assure that all restrictions or permissions will be put in place in the light of day, with public input and by legislators chosen by our residents.”
If the bill is approved, public colleges would need legislation to prohibit firearms on campus, proponents noted, as would those using public facilities or land.
Along with Mara, law enforcement officials from the State Police, University of New Hampshire, Keene State College and the Community College System opposed the bill, along with private and public college heads and the parent of a UNH freshman.
Law enforcement officials said if students are allowed to carry guns, responding to a life or death situation on campuses would be more dangerous, making it difficult for trained officers to tell the good guys from the bad guys.
Daniel Pelletier, director of security for Nashua Community College and a former Derry police detective, said every college in New Hampshire, public or private, prohibits firearms on campus.
He said security personnel are trained twice a year. “With an active shooter, we are trained any armed citizen in the immediate location is considered a threat,” Pelletier said. “If they don’t have guns we don’t have to guess.”
Amanda Warman, director of campus security at Keene State College, told of a 2007 incident during an off-campus party where students had been drinking and an argument developed over a BB gun.
One student was told he could not hold the gun, so he retrieved his own rifle and accidentally shot his friend, she said. He locked himself in his room, believing he killed his friend, and shot himself in the head when police arrived.
He was an average student who had never been in trouble, she said, and had learned to use his rifle for hunting. “(He) turned out to be a dead 20-year-old student on alcohol who turned the gun on himself,” Warman said.
Jonathan Evans, president of the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition, termed such testimony as “template garbage.”
He said anti-gun folks want to punch holes in the law. “The heart of this matter is to prevent what is going on in Massachusetts where there are little fiefdoms all over the state that make their own rules and regulations on who can have guns and who cannot, and who is a good person and who is a bad person,” he said.
HB 334 is one of three bills Gov. John Lynch said earlier this year that he would veto that would loosen restrictions on what he called New Hampshire’s already gun-friendly laws.
The others are House Bill 536, which would do away with the permit requirement to carry a concealed weapon, and HB 194 which would consider a rifle or shotgun to be loaded only if a round is in the gun’s chamber, not if they are in the gun’s magazine.
Current law states a rifle is loaded when there are bullets in it — whether there is a round in the chamber or not.
The Senate held public hearings on those bills as well Thursday, but did not make an immediate recommendation.
The House already approved the three bills.
Law enforcement and college officials as well as gun rights activists filled a State House hearing room Thursday as the Senate Judiciary Committee held public hearings on three bills that would make the state’s firearm laws more lenient.
The most controversial, House Bill 334, would prohibit public colleges from banning firearms on campuses, and would also prohibit banning firearms from facilities like the Verizon Wireless Arena, Merchantsauto.com Stadium, the state hospital and state-owned buildings at Pease International Tradeport.
Manchester Police Chief David Mara said the Verizon Wireless Arena hosts hockey games and concerts that draw 10,000 people. Allowing people to carry guns and knives at those events, “would be a very dangerous situation,” he said.
“It doesn’t come down to the right to carry, it comes down to a safety issue,” Mara told the committee.
The bill’s intent is to prevent “a bunch of little jurisdictions throughout the state for gun regulations,” said one of the bill’s sponsors, Rep. J.R. Hoell, R-Dunbarton. “We want to be sure there is not a patchwork quilt of regulations for gun owners and those who carry.”
The bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Steve Cunningham, R-Sunapee, proposed a change to the bill to make it clear the Legislature is the only authority in the state to set firearms policy in publicly owned or financed buildings, or on state land.
“Various committees, department heads and bureaucrats have taken (state) to mean that they have that authority,” Cunningham said. “This will assure that all restrictions or permissions will be put in place in the light of day, with public input and by legislators chosen by our residents.”
If the bill is approved, public colleges would need legislation to prohibit firearms on campus, proponents noted, as would those using public facilities or land.
Along with Mara, law enforcement officials from the State Police, University of New Hampshire, Keene State College and the Community College System opposed the bill, along with private and public college heads and the parent of a UNH freshman.
Law enforcement officials said if students are allowed to carry guns, responding to a life or death situation on campuses would be more dangerous, making it difficult for trained officers to tell the good guys from the bad guys.
Daniel Pelletier, director of security for Nashua Community College and a former Derry police detective, said every college in New Hampshire, public or private, prohibits firearms on campus.
He said security personnel are trained twice a year. “With an active shooter, we are trained any armed citizen in the immediate location is considered a threat,” Pelletier said. “If they don’t have guns we don’t have to guess.”
Amanda Warman, director of campus security at Keene State College, told of a 2007 incident during an off-campus party where students had been drinking and an argument developed over a BB gun.
One student was told he could not hold the gun, so he retrieved his own rifle and accidentally shot his friend, she said. He locked himself in his room, believing he killed his friend, and shot himself in the head when police arrived.
He was an average student who had never been in trouble, she said, and had learned to use his rifle for hunting. “(He) turned out to be a dead 20-year-old student on alcohol who turned the gun on himself,” Warman said.
Jonathan Evans, president of the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition, termed such testimony as “template garbage.”
He said anti-gun folks want to punch holes in the law. “The heart of this matter is to prevent what is going on in Massachusetts where there are little fiefdoms all over the state that make their own rules and regulations on who can have guns and who cannot, and who is a good person and who is a bad person,” he said.
HB 334 is one of three bills Gov. John Lynch said earlier this year that he would veto that would loosen restrictions on what he called New Hampshire’s already gun-friendly laws.
The others are House Bill 536, which would do away with the permit requirement to carry a concealed weapon, and HB 194 which would consider a rifle or shotgun to be loaded only if a round is in the gun’s chamber, not if they are in the gun’s magazine.
Current law states a rifle is loaded when there are bullets in it — whether there is a round in the chamber or not.
The Senate held public hearings on those bills as well Thursday, but did not make an immediate recommendation.
The House already approved the three bills.