NH GOP senators kill gun background checks bill despite bipartisan support

CONCORD — The final New Hampshire gun violence prevention bill of 2024 fell Thursday, as the state Senate voted 13-10 to table it, likely killing the issue for this session.

House Bill 1711 would require serious mental health information to be reported to the FBI’s background check system for firearm purchases. New Hampshire is currently one of just three states that doesn't already do so.

The legislation is known as "Bradley’s Law” in honor of Bradley Haas, a security guard who was shot and killed while working at New Hampshire Hospital in Concord, killed by a man who had previously been a patient there. The bipartisan bill is sponsored by Rep. David Meuse, D-Portsmouth, and Rep. Terry Roy, R-Deerfield.

On Thursday, there was no debate on the bill after a motion to table was made. Only Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, spoke, urging the senators to overturn the tabling motion.

“If I know that voting on this bill would have closed the gap in our laws, will I now vote against this tabling motion and take a step towards protecting someone else's life?” she said.

Meuse said he was “extremely disappointed” in the outcome.

“We're one of one of three states that doesn't share this information,” Meuse said. “If we kill this particular bill, we're going to be in a position where that status isn't going to change, and the types of things that happened in Lewiston and at New Hampshire Hospital, we've done nothing to mitigate the risk of something like that happening again in New Hampshire.”

On Thursday, Senate Democrats released a statement calling the legislation was this session’s “last hope to take action against gun violence.”

At the beginning of the year, Democrats introduced a slate of gun bills, such as bills that would establish a red flag law, give suicidal people the option for a voluntary waiver of their rights, create a waiting period for gun purchases, and prohibit individuals from bringing firearms to school campuses. All have been killed: HB 1711 was the only one to make it out of its original chamber.

What’s next for Bradley’s Law?

The bill has one more chance to get off the table, as next week is the deadline for the Senate to act on all House bills. Another possibility for its passage is for the House to attach HB 1711 to another bill as a floor amendment. While Meuse said he thinks it’s important to leave no effort unspent when it comes to a bill like this, both these options are unlikely to succeed.

“At this point, our options are limited, and frankly our best shot was to pass this bill in Senate to the governor,” Meuse said. “It's just sad to see so many people so engaged around this issue and trying to fix this gap in our law, waking up this morning disappointed like me.”

He said he was also disappointed to see senators repeating “misleading” talking points from pro-gun lobbies, like there was no due process for mentally ill people that would see their guns taken away. Meuse said there is due process “every step of the way.”

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On Monday, Roy had sent a letter to the Senate urging them to pass the bill and countering “patently incorrect information” he heard from gun groups and senators.

“After this, should the bill fail, it will at least not be said that it was due to my failing to explain it, or failing to counter misinformation from lobbyists,” he wrote.

Meuse said intervention from Republican Gov. Chris Sununu could’ve helped the bill's chances of success, but that he’s only given “radio silence.”

Sununu’s office did not respond to a request for interview on bills voted on in the Senate this week.

The New Hampshire Bulletin reported that on Wednesday, Sununu told reporters that had the bill reached his desk he would have signed it.

“This is clearly a loophole that has to be closed, and I’m supportive of the bill,” Sununu said, according to the Bulletin. He said gun rights groups, which lobbied lawmakers to reject the bill, were trying to “scare people” into voting against it.

In March, the Senate passed SB 592, a bill to honor the late Haas by renaming part of Route 127 the Chief Bradley Haas Memorial Highway, in March.

“That’s a very nice gesture,” said Meuse. “But I think, part of really honoring his memory, is making sure that what happened to him doesn't happen to anybody else because of our inaction. We have an opportunity to close a loophole that may have killed him.”

Editor's note: New Hampshire state Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, is the wife of Howard Altschiller, Seacoast Media Group's executive editor.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NH GOP senators kill gun background checks bill