Concealed carry could go beyond borders
Reciprocity push could force Bay State’s hand
New Hampshire’s new law letting gun owners carry concealed weapons without a permit mirrors a federal push endorsed by President Trump to guarantee that people’s concealed-carry rights travel across state lines.
Granite State Gov. Chris Sununu signed the “Constutional Carry” legislation yesterday, immediately eliminating the requirement for a gun owner to get a permit from state or local police before they can carry a concealed firearm — putting New Hampshire in line with 11 other states, including Vermont and Maine.
“This is about making sure that the laws on our books are keeping people safe while remaining true to the ‘Live Free or Die’ spirit that makes New Hampshire the great state that it is,” Sununu said in a statement.
Even though the New Hampshire law stops at the state line, a bill in Congress could require states to recognize concealed carry rights from other states, much like drivers licenses are respected nationwide.
The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, introduced by North Carolina U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson in January and backed by the National Rifle Association, would force states to grant reciprocity with other states’ concealed carry laws — a measure then-presidential candidate Trump endorsed.
“I’m very much in favor of making all concealed-carry permits valid in every state,” Trump wrote in his book, “Crippled America.” “If we can do that for driving — which is a privilege, not a right — then surely we can do that for concealed carry, which is a right, not a privilege.”
Stop Handgun Violence cofounder John Rosenthal said national concealed carry reciprocity “would undermine every significant state gun law in Massachusetts.”
“The NRA has been attempting to get this handgun reciprocity law enacted for years, and they are fairly optimistic that with the Republican Congress they have their best shot in years,” Rosenthal said. “It’ll come down to whether Republicans have just been playing lip service to states’ rights for all these decades or whether it matters.”
Rosenthal expects any reciprocity measure would land in court, and a tough-on-guns state such as Massachusetts would make a test state.
“In Massachusetts, I believe we will be the proving ground in what is reasonable or not,” Rosenthal said. ”We have got the most comprehensive gun laws and the lowest death rates. It’s the NRA’s worst nightmare.”
Gun Owners’ Action League Executive Director Jim Wallace said New Hampshire becoming the next “Constitutional Carry” state shows exactly how much Massachusetts is lacking on gun rights.
“It shows the rest of the nation is going in a direction that Massachusetts simply won’t go,” Wallace told the Herald. “As the rest of the country starts to move forward, I think eventually Massachusetts, like the rest of the country, will have to see the light.”