Concord
Lawmakers did not specifically mention last week’s deadly high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., during their debates, but it clearly was the motivation behind Sen. Martha Hennessey’s effort to amend another education-related bill to give local school boards the power to prohibit guns in designated safe school zones.
“I believe that not one child is New Hampshire should be afraid to go to school and that not one parent should fear for their child’s safety when they’re dropped off,” Hennessey, a Hanover Democrat, said on the Senate floor.
Her argument was met with a gavel from Senate President Chuck Morse, R-Salem, who chided Hennessey for straying from procedure. The sound was so loud that Hennessey jumped back mid-speech.
“Senator, we’re not having a debate on the amendment,” Morse said.
The Senate by voice vote opted to send the amendment to its education committee.
“The amendment referenced today suggests a major policy change in our state. Like all legislation put forth in the Senate, this measure deserves to be properly vetted though the legislative process including a public hearing and thoughtful, deliberate consideration of its effects to ensure that it does what we intend for it to do while avoiding unintended consequences,” Senate Republican Leader Jeb Bradley said in a statement later in the day. “All of us agree that our children and teachers deserve to feel safe and protected at our public schools, and we will take the appropriate steps to ensure that we are doing what is best for our state and our children.”
Hennessey reluctantly supported the move, which she hopes will lead to a public hearing and further debate.
“I am disappointed we are not addressing this issue faster and sooner, because in the meantime, children are dying,” she said.
The federal Gun-Free School Zones Act bans weapons within 1,000 feet of a school, but New Hampshire law gives the Legislature the sole authority to regulate guns. Local law enforcement officials cannot enforce the federal law, according to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office.
That has created some confusion, as several Upper Valley communities have created gun-free zones on town- or school-owned property.
The House earlier this month voted to further study a bill that would punish such communities with $5,000 fines.
Supporters of that bill used the same argument — that only the state can regulate guns — to back Thursday’s House bill that would have allowed anyone who is not otherwise prohibited by state or federal law to carry a gun onto the grounds of any University System of New Hampshire campus or community college campus.
Currently, the campuses ban guns other than those carried by law enforcement, but some Republicans say those policies are illegal.
The House voted, 231-110, to defeat the bill.
“Not all campuses have security,” said Rep. John Burt, R-Goffstown. “College kids — or adults, because they’re adults at this age — deserve the right and have the right to protect themselves against school shootings.”
Opponents argued that the youngest college students are adolescents who may be experimenting with alcohol and drugs, and that allowing them to carry guns would be unwise. They also said in the event of an active shooter, it might be unclear who was the shooter and who was the defender, which could have fatal consequences for innocent bystanders
“If there is an active shooter incident on a college campus, let’s say there’s 1,000 students and 100 of them have firearms, it would be a disaster,” said Rep. David Welch, R-Kingston. “Law enforcement coming into a place like a school with half a dozen or a dozen people with guns drawn is not a good scenario.”
Both votes came as Gov. Chris Sununu reiterated his support for New Hampshire’s existing gun laws. Speaking on New Hampshire Public Radio, the first-term Republican publicly opposed calls to more strictly regulate firearms.
“People have to understand. The government isn’t just going to pass laws and wrap everyone in bubble wrap, right? We can’t do that,” he said on the call-in radio show The Exchange. “Look, if we could pass laws that would guarantee everyone’s safety, we’d pass them, of course.”
Sununu called New Hampshire’s firearms laws “pretty darn good” and said any change would be more “appropriate at the federal level.”
He expressed opposition to “red flag laws,” which would allow police to temporarily take away the guns of people found by a judge to be a threat to themselves or others. Sununu also ruled out an assault weapons ban in the Granite State.
“You’re walking a very dangerous line when you just keep picking off one weapon after another, after another, after another,” he said. “Eventually, you’re going to get to the point where you are just taking people’s firearms away.”
Instead, Sununu touted the state’s public school infrastructure fund, which is distributing $18 million to help school districts update security.
“That’s about 300 schools (that) will get money for security doors, surveillance systems, emergency plans, training for teachers,” he said.
Lebanon is expected to receive $315,000 from the fund for upgrades to fire walls and sprinkler systems, while the Mascoma Valley Regional School District was awarded $44,500 for school entrance security upgrades.
Valley News Staff Writer Tim Camerato and The Associated Press contributed to this report.