Gun Laws

[aries]

Now tell me where the state government gets the power, out of that, to require licenses to bear arms?

Strictly speaking a license is not required to bear arms, only to bear them concealed.  But the license requirement predated the amendment by nearly 60 years, and enough of the legislature last year ignored their oath to uphold the New Hampshire Constitution and voted against James Wheeler's bill to decriminalize unlicensed concealed carry.

Shouldnt the license requirement be tossed out in court then?

[error]

You assume the courts would do something unusual like uphold the Constitution. By and large they don't.

[mvpel]

Shouldnt the license requirement be tossed out in court then?

Somebody without a license needs to be willing to put their butt on the line to get caught carrying concealed without a license in order to challenge the constitutionality of the law.  And the New Hampshire Supreme Court isn't terribly reliable on the finer points of Constitutional parsing - consider that they thought that "cherish" and "encourage" means "support with tax money."

Plus a few courts have accepted the argument that the state has the authority to define the manner in which carrying of firearms is done, including the US Supreme Court:

... in 1902 the Supreme Court of Idaho refers to "the carrying of weapons concealed" as "a pernicious practice" (180). An 1897 U.S. Supreme Court decision states, "[T]he right of the people to keep and bear arms (article 2) is not infringed by laws prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons..." (163) In 1875, the Texas Supreme Court referred to guns "appropriate for open and manly use in self-defense..." (179).

[aries]

Shouldnt the license requirement be tossed out in court then?

Somebody without a license needs to be willing to put their butt on the line to get caught carrying concealed without a license in order to challenge the constitutionality of the law.  And the New Hampshire Supreme Court isn't terribly reliable on the finer points of Constitutional parsing - consider that they thought that "cherish" and "encourage" means "support with tax money."

Plus a few courts have accepted the argument that the state has the authority to define the manner in which carrying of firearms is done, including the US Supreme Court:

... in 1902 the Supreme Court of Idaho refers to "the carrying of weapons concealed" as "a pernicious practice" (180). An 1897 U.S. Supreme Court decision states, "[T]he right of the people to keep and bear arms (article 2) is not infringed by laws prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons..." (163) In 1875, the Texas Supreme Court referred to guns "appropriate for open and manly use in self-defense..." (179).

Mine was easy enough to get, I am not a candidate for getting busted carrying without one... not that its a huge deal.

[Alex, Minarchist Minutema]

What about carrying "loaded" weapons either in your car, or on in public. 

This is one of the most important of all gun laws in my opinion...

People are always going 'on and on', mentioning handguns and concealed carry regs... but we forget about 'the basics'.

What I want to know is.... Is NH one of those states where I'm gonna get bagged in my car just for having the gun on my seat, and either the weapon being loaded, or even if its not loaded... what if I just have the bullets laying in a box or in the magazine tossed on my back seat?   (you know, maybe I just back from a hunting trip or a daily outing to the local range so I just tossed the stuff on my seat).

In a lot of states, thats '5 - 10' right there... The gun and bullets have to be seperated..  Bullets either in the trunk, or locked in the glovebox.  Such laws like that make me feel very unsafe... because aside from not actually being ableto use my gun if I were carjacked... because the damned bullets are in the trunk.... I also worry that I'd be tossed in jail for 2 years just because a bullet accidentally dropped under the seat one day 5 years ago... and then I get pulled over for a traffic ticket... and Mr Officer says... "oh look... you have a single bullet on your car floor.. and your guns is on your car seat so now your going to jail for 10 years".




Also curious about whether you can get bagged for having loaded weapon "in public"... meaning hypothetically, lets say I walk out to my mailbox on the street with my loaded gun.... Along these same lines, if I wanted to engage in a Second Amendment kind of protest...and I was just hanging out peacefully on the sidewalk protesting, not obstructing anyone, and I had a loaded firearm (but wasn't threatening or menacing anyone - just simply having on a sling on my shoulder)... Is that the kind of thing that would be a problem in NH?

[error]

My understanding, and I may well be wrong, is that you can open carry almost anywhere in the state, but the bureaucrats want you to have the concealed carry license to carry in your car.

[Rosie the Riveter]

I think this web site does a good job giving an overview of NH gun laws ~Enjoy

http://www.pgnh.org/gunlawfaqs