In New Hampshire, no license is required to carry a firearm openly; it is fairly simple to obtain a license to carry a handgun concealed. The number of concealed carry licenses is unknown. Statewide records are only kept for out of state permits.
The bill requires that people be unarmed while voting. It requires that they not “control” any firearm while voting, thus forbidding them from leaving their firearm(s) locked in their car. From the bill at legiscan .com:
I. No person shall knowingly carry a loaded or unloaded pistol, revolver, firearm, or other deadly weapon as defined in RSA 625:11, V, whether open or concealed, or whether licensed or unlicensed, upon the person or within any of the person’s possessions owned or within the person’s control at a polling place during a federal, state, or municipal election.
II. Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a class B felony.
It’s never been illegal to carry weapons to polling places in New Hampshire. If a single instance of abuse had occurred, it would have been mentioned at seacoastonline.com:
Additionally, he warned, some residents might carry weapons to the polls, which is legal under state law.
“We are going to follow the law,” Selig said. “As long as nobody is being threatening toward anyone else with their weapons, it’s a non-issue. We are just making sure everyone is safe.”
None of the commenters at the site were able to find a single instance of abuse, either.
The safety of carrying weapons to the polls has never been an issue. The intent of the legislation seems clear: discourage people who exercise their Second Amendment rights from voting.
Second Amendment supporters tend to be 3.7 times as likely to be Republicans as Democrats, 82% to 22%, according to Pew. This legislation is an attempt to suppress the Republican vote.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.