Governor Chris Sununu has just signed SB12, the “permitless” or Constitutional carry bill for New Hampshire in a signing ceremony this morning. From Governor Sununu’s facebook page:

Signing #SB12 into law is a commitment I made to the people of New Hampshire. I am proud today to fulfill that commitment.

Similar bills were vetoed twice by former Democrat Governor Maggie Hassan. Hassan left the Governor’s mansion to become a U.S. Senator from New Hampshire.

The bill passed with solid margins in the Senate, 13-10, and in the House, 200-97. Here is the analysis of SB12 from the New Hampshire legislature:

I. Increases the length of time for which a license to carry a pistol or revolver is valid.

II. Allows a person to carry a loaded, concealed pistol or revolver without a license unless such person is otherwise prohibited by New Hampshire statute.

III. Requires the director of the division of state police to negotiate and enter into agreements with other jurisdictions to recognize in those jurisdictions the validity of the license to carry issued in this state.

IV. Repeals the requirement to obtain a license to carry a concealed pistol or revolver.

A campaign to push Governor Sununu to veto the bill was pushed by Michael Bloomberg organizations. Some New Hampshire police organizations joined the campaign. From the eagletribune.com:

CONCORD, N.H. — Senate Bill 12, a bill ending the permit requirement to carry concealed guns in New Hampshire, will allow sex offenders and children to carry certain firearms concealed if signed by Gov. Chris Sununu, according to the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police.

Reading carefully, the police are worried that people under the age of 18 might legally carry rifles and shotguns concealed. They are also worried that people who have committed some misdemeanors would be able to carry concealed.

Their efforts were blunted by the fact that both Vermont and Maine have similar rights to carry firearms. Vermont has been a “permitless” or Constitutional carry state for its entire existence; Maine joined the club last year. Neither has had any adverse experiences with Constitutional carry.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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38 COMMENTS

  3. Now does this mean as a Massachusetts class A license holder (license to conceal carry) I can now carry in NH, as I already can do in the constitutional Carry states of Vermont and Maine?????

    • Whether you have a MA gun license, no gun license, etc. NH doesn’t care about your gun license. You follow the state gun laws of the state you are in at the time.

      So as long as you are not a prohibited person, you can carry concealed in VT, NH and ME now no problem, no need for an out of state NH gun license, etc.

    • Except that us folks in CowHampshire really don’t want Ma$$holes coming up here. Unless you’re just buying smokes and liquor and going home.

      • Don’t drink, don’t smoke…. But I do come up over the state line for your excellent gun ranges ??????

    • For you ‘Maine carriers’, bear in mind that constitutional carry does not apply in state-designated ‘gun free zones’, such as public school campuses, which in Maine can be YUUUUUUGE.

      In Maine, you can be well within a school’s property line with no school anywhere in sight. For those cases, you’ll still want to get a Maine concealed carry license.

      ‘Yes’ it’s totally stupid, but it’s also totally true (unfortunately).

    • Chris: +1 – I think you are supposed to say things like that in ALL CAPS, and I can see you also pointed out EVERYWHERE gun control has worked, by its complete omission. [never enough room to put where gun control DOESN’T work]

  6. Only 2.5 hours since it was signed and I’ve had to change my socks twice due to all the blood in the streets.

  7. Did I read that correctly, its effective immediately?

    Congrats to NH and about time since the permit process was a joke; why have it if you aren’t actually doing anything other than collecting $10 from it?

    This also serves as a nice thorn in the argument that CT is making that “we made our decision to increase permit prices with respect to the cost of permits in surrounding states.”

  9. At this rate we should have 90% of the states converted to constitutional carry by the end of this year.

    Finally a new world order thats…. orderly.

    • Promoting Constitutional-Carry is fine; but (IMO) is over-rated by many PotG. There is the principle-of-the-thing (a government-grant of permission for a right). There is the principal-of-the-thing (I have paid $21 to $200 or so for my various permissions.) Even so, the reality of the matter is that Constitutional-Carry is only marginally better than Shall-Issue for those of us resident in 40 relatively gun-friendly States.

      What is the “big” picture? What affects us nationally – where ever we might travel or wish to migrate? What affects the vibrancy of the long-run life of the RKBA? Is it $100? Is it $21? I don’t think so.

      The “big” picture is national; it’s the RKBA in 2030, 2060 and 2090. The big picture is still being largely “painted” by the 10 blue, highly-populated, jurisdictions: NYC, DC, MA, NJ, MD, CA, RI, HI, etc. Will local legislators, and the Federal legislators, from these jurisdictions be influenced by the Constitutional-Carry wave in other polities? I can’t imagine so.

      What must we – the voters in the 40 gun-rights States – do to promote the acceptance of guns in the 10 blue jurisdictions? National-Reciprocity is – by far – the most important in this respect. It does NOT matter whether one or another of us occasionally travels to one of these 10 blue jurisdictions. What DOES matter is that voters in those jurisdictions threaten our 2A rights Federally, and in the long-run.

      • You’re never going to get federally imposed nationally reciprocity. First, it’d come with more compromises than it would be worth. Second, it would be toothless, leaving it hollow like FOPA. Third, you’d still be facing hostile local officials who would abuse the law and force you to devote your life to a court fight to overturn your fraudulent convictions.

        If you can’t change the culture on the ground first, so that it’s more receptive to subsequent federal law or SC decisions, then it won’t matter. You can’t accomplish culture change in California from a ballot box in Pennsylvania. You need tennis shoes on the ground, spreading the gospel of firearms freedom and changing hearts and minds in person.

        • Exactly, and I don’t see constitutional carry as a loss of my license payment investment, I see it as a savings for myself and future gun owners.

          Being all pissy because you had to pay for a license and now new people coming in don’t, is very conceded and ignorant .
          I don’t have to pay for a license to free speech or to vote. We’ve been getting screwed for years.

      • There are many of us in these jurisdictions that want change but there is little we can do. We’re outvoted by wide margins in meant areas of politics. We’re trying but it’s a long drawn out process. I plan to leave my home state of MA for that exact reason(amogst others). My views and votes do not matter in the large picture. We’re doing all we can but it’s simply not enough. It will take lots of work and years and maybe just maybe we can get “high cap” mags legalized. The right to buy any gun i want and not have to shop off of a government approved list will be a much harder fight. This state is crazy

  10. And we here in Florida are still fighting for Open Carry and Campus Carry let alone Constitutional Carry. Florida has been under GOP control since 1996 and our Legislatures won’t pass remotely anything Pro Gun that actually expands our rights. Since 1996 the FL GOP has controlled the State and nothing!

    Good for you New Hampshire!

  11. I was wondering about Article I, given that licenses are no longer needed. I wonder if it is primarily relevant because of Article III and reciprocity in general.

    In any case, how does this affect long guns?

  12. Finally!!! Thank You Governor Sununu and the Legislature for allowing The People of New Hampshire to exercise their God given right to self defense without having to beg the government for a permit to do so.

  13. Thank you Govenor Chris Sununu , & all of the legislature whom helped this common sense bill pass, Now for all 50 states to make this law, just like a drivers license.

  14. So only here in Retard Rhode Island and in Massholeachushits we have limits on obtaining a permit and where and how a permit is valid. Lovely.

  15. Legally carry rifles concealed. Sure . Is that a remmy 700 in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?

  16. Constitutional carry in any State that has it would be a good deal sweeter without GFSZA. I want to see that one dead before worrying about national reciprocity that may never happen anyway.

  17. Constitutional carry in any State that has it would be a good deal sweeter without GFSZA. I want to see that one dead before worrying about national reciprocity that may never happen anyway.

  18. Well then, by my estimation, only 28 more states to go before Iowa gets constitutional carry.

  19. Great news! Glad to see a restoration of freedom in the “Live Free or Die” state. I’d love to visit there someday, I hear they have beautiful mountains.

  20. Brilliant. I always thought Sununu had more sense. When I attended my own concealed carry class I was astonished how untrained many people were with handguns. I really did not even feel safe around them with a loaded gun in their hands. Most thought that once they got their licenses that they would be able to shoot anyone for anything until they went through the course and realized how complicated it can get when you shoot someone even in a state that has a “Castle Doctrine” law. The course taught them gun safety (or at least made a start of it) as many had never even owned a gun in their life. I saw one Doctor (who you would think at least had some level of intelligence) fumble loading his gun so severely it even alarmed the Instructor who chewed him out about not even knowing how to safely load his gun.

    Now we have Sununu signing a law so anyone can pocket a deadly weapon with no training on either the laws of deadly force or the safety training in regards to handling and carrying a gun.

    And the Right Wing Morons are applauding him. It proves what total Morons they really are.

    Although I will state that if a license is required (and it should damn well be) that the course should be absolutely free as to encourage all people to get some training before packing heat and thinking now they can all be Wyatt Earp re-incarnated as Zimmerman thought but found out too late when you shoot someone, look out,as it can even get racial and political even if the law is on your side (at least in the beginning) like it was with Zimmerman. He still came very close to going to jail and it cost him thousands in legal fees. Again more than enough evidence to show how important it is to get really good training before you pocket a weapon.

    Unfortunately when dealing with the gun issue both the Radical Far Left and Radical Far Right both seem to have recently crawled out of a Neanderthal Cave in France. Common sense is not common amongst either group.

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