CONCORD — Under legislation that cleared the House of Representatives Wednesday, handgun buyers would have to wait three days to pick up their purchase.
The 184-134 vote sent the measure (HB 1101) to the state Senate, where it is also likely to be adopted.
Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed an identical waiting-period bill last year, and the minority House Republicans were united enough to sustain that veto.
State Rep. Ray Newman, D-Nashua, said suicide rates in New Hampshire have risen 48% over the past 20 years.
He said the waiting period could cause people to think twice about buying a gun to hurt themselves.
“Waiting periods do not take guns away from anyone, and they do not restrict gun ownership in any way,” Newman said.
Rep. Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, said he has yet to see evidence that shows the benefits of a waiting period outweigh the restrictions on the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
“This bill would infringe on the rights of over one million Granite Staters based on inconclusive data as to whether or not it would even address the stated purpose. We need to focus on the cause of suicide, not the method,” Roy said.
Rep. John Burt, R-Goffstown, said the delay could put at risk victims of domestic violence who need to buy a gun to defend themselves.
“We are again one of the safest states in the nation. With that said, why are we going down this path? I question that,” Burt said.
“It is just to remove guns and make it harder for people, to just slow down the ability to get a gun.”
The waiting period would not apply to the purchase of a rifle or shotgun as long as the buyer had completed a state-run, 16-hour hunter education course.
On Thursday, the House will consider a bill to require a background check before the purchase of any firearm, another piece of legislation Sununu vetoed in 2019.
Typically, lawmakers are not allowed to bring back in the next year an identical bill to one that has been rejected, but House and Senate rules allow lawmakers to bring such a bill back in the next year if the legislative branch went on record in support of that policy.
