New Hampshire has fish and wildlife refuges. In them, it is illegal to carry firearms. Should it be?

The sponsors of House Bill 1555, which has a public hearing at 10:15 this morning, say no. That bill would replace the ban on carrying firearms in state fish and wildlife refuges with a ban on discharging firearms “for the purpose of taking wildlife.” The argument is that people have a right to bear arms, and they should be able to do so in wildlife refuges.

We are sympathetic to this argument. We also are sympathetic to the need for wildlife refuges in which hunting is banned. The current law, though, doesn’t just ban hunting. It bans all firearms. That goes too far. House Bill 1555 also goes too far, though.

How is a fish and game officer to determine whether a recently fired rifle or shotgun was discharged “for the purpose of taking wildlife” if the hunter hasn’t picked up his quarry yet? As written, this bill has great potential to create confrontations between citizens and fish and game officers. A good compromise might be to allow the carry of handguns, but not rifles, shotguns, crossbows or bows, in the refuges.