CONCORD, N.H. – The New Hampshire chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, applauded the New Hampshire Senate for advancing legislation to prevent gun violence. The legislation now heads back to the New Hampshire House of Representatives for concurrence, the last stop for the bills before heading to Governor Sununu. These life-saving bills include:
- HB 109, legislation that would require background checks for all commercial gun sales. This bill will close a loophole that allows prohibited people to purchase firearms from unlicensed sellers they find online or at gun shows without a background check. It would also ensure the completion of a background check before the sale of a firearm; and
- HB 514, legislation that would require a waiting period for all firearm purchases;
“We’re grateful to our lawmakers for advancing common-sense gun safety legislation today,” said Deidre Reynolds, a volunteer with the New Hampshire chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “We all want to keep our communities and schools safe from gun violence, and if enacted, this legislation will help do that. We’ll wait expectantly for these bills to get to the governor.”
The New Hampshire Senate also passed an amended version of HB 564, which would allow K-12 schools to opt into prohibiting the possession of guns. Volunteers with Moms Demand Action will push lawmakers to restore the bill language passed by the New Hampshire House of Representatives, which would prohibit gun possession in K-12 schools statewide, when the bill returns to the House for concurrence.
Twenty-one states require background checks on all handgun sales, but New Hampshire does not. Everytown recently commissioned polling that demonstrated widespread support for gun safety legislation among adults in New Hampshire:
- 90 percent of Granite Staters and 85 percent of Granite State gun owners support criminal background checks for all gun sales.
- 81 percent of New Hampshire voters support a seven-day waiting period for gun sales.