Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire penned his name on a bill allowing for law-abiding citizens to Constitutional Carry.
Gov. Sununu’s signature makes New Hampshire the 12th state to allow constitutional carry in the United States. New Hampshire now joins its bordering states, Maine and Vermont, in allowing constitutional carry..
State law bars anyone who has a restraining order against them or a felony conviction from possessing a gun. Federal law goes further, also barring anyone convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment exceeding one year, drug users, certain people with mental illness, or someone convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence, among several other categories.
The New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police has raised alarm that taking away their discretion could allow dangerous people to carry a hidden gun. There’s no statewide record of how many people are denied concealed carry licenses each year.
“We have some concerns, obviously, about the ramifications that could come out of this,” said Chief Andrew Shagoury, vice president of the association.
Supporters of stricter gun laws accused Sununu of making New Hampshire less safe.
“You have put politics over public safety, kowtowing to the extreme agenda of the national gun lobby,” Deidre Reynolds, a New Hampshire volunteer with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said in a statement. “Abandoning critically important public safety standards is just wrong.”
But backers of the bill say those concerns are misplaced and that police have been unfairly denying people licenses.
“The Constitution is very clear, and the chiefs of police need to grow up,” said Republican Rep. John Burt. He added, “That’s why they’re mad: They can’t abuse the public anymore.”