By Rep. Marjorie Smith, D-Durham
“Guns don’t kill people. People do.” This phrase, first used in the early part of the twentieth century, was made popular by the NRA in the latter years of that century. Today it’s a cliché, the implications of which many people doubt. But let’s accept the phrase as a truism.
HB 59, pending before the NH house, addresses not the gun, but the person who chooses to purchase the gun. And that is probably why 93% of the American public favors background checks for gun purchase. That includes just under 90% of gun owners, and just under 90% of Republicans. These figures hold for New Hampshire, which makes it very difficult to understand why in the past so many of our elected representatives have not supported the wishes of the majority of those who elect us.
I am not an expert on guns. But I do know a fair amount about people. Most of them, including, overwhelmingly, gun owners, believe in gun safety. This bill is to protect us from those few who purchase and misuse guns for reasons that no responsible gun owner or caring citizen would support – to harm others, and perhaps, to harm themselves.
Never having purchased a gun, I was interested to learn how easy it would be to purchase a gun legally. There are nearly 59,000 unique gun dealers across the country, four times as many as there are McDonald’s and nearly twice as many as U.S. post offices. Gun owners who buy a gun from a dealer know how easy the background check is. In this state and almost every other state, no one lives more than 10 miles from a licensed firearm dealer.
This bill requires commercial firearms sales in New Hampshire to be processed through a licensed firearms dealer, who will conduct a background check and create a record of each sale. Its purpose is to protect public safety by helping to keep firearms out of the hands of felons, domestic abusers, and those adjudicated to be mentally ill.
This bill closes what is referred to as the Charleston loophole. Under federal law, a licensed dealer may proceed with the sale of a firearm after three business days even if the mandated background check has not yet been completed and there’s been no confirmation that the purchaser is legally permitted to have guns. The perpetrator of the Charleston church shooting—who was legally prohibited from having guns—was able to use this loophole to purchase the gun he used in that tragedy before the background check was completed. This bill closes the “Charleston Loophole” in New Hampshire by providing law enforcement officials sufficient time to complete a background check on a prospective purchaser to ensure that prohibited people cannot purchase firearms in New Hampshire
HB 59 as amended excludes private, noncommercial sales or transfers between individuals, provided neither individual is prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm under state or federal law. In a recent conversation I had with one of my colleagues, he talked about wanting to give his son a gun, knowing he had trained his child about gun safety including responsible use and storage. This bill would not interfere with that in any way. And it is not only relatives. As long as the gun owner knows that the potential recipient is not prohibited under federal or state law to own a gun, the exchange is legal.
I represent the overwhelming percentage of New Hampshire citizens, including almost all gun owners, who believe in responsible gun ownership..
Background checks make sense, they use existing systems that are familiar to legal gun purchasers, and they save lives.
Representative Marjorie Smith, D-Durham
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