The state Senate has passed SB 12, which eliminates the requirement that an applicant for a concealed carry permit be “a suitable person to be licensed.” All 10 Democratic senators voted no. The effect of this change is to remove the discretion of chiefs of police to deny permits.
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If SB 12 passes, everyone (except convicted felons) will be allowed to carry a concealed weapon. This includes people whom a chief of police, under current law, could determine is unsuitable for a concealed carry permit: a person who has a history of getting drunk in bars and picking fights; a person who has threatened someone with a gun in the past, though never convicted of a felony; a person who has been involved in road rage incidents; a person who has been the subject of multiple domestic violence calls to 911.

Under current law, if a person has committed an act of violence below the felony level, it is legal for that person to have a gun at home. But if that person wants to carry a loaded concealed weapon in public, we have a higher standard implemented by our chiefs of police. This is what Republicans and the NRA want to abolish.

The House will vote on SB 12 on Thursday. The New Hampshire association of Chiefs of Police has spoken out against SB 12. Please add your voice. Seek out your representatives and ask these questions: Should a known drug addict be allowed to carry a loaded concealed weapon? How about the man who punched his neighbor during an argument? Or the woman who has been diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic, and sometimes fails to take her meds?