HB 1433 – AS INTRODUCED

2010 SESSION

10-2351

04/09

HOUSE BILL 1433

AN ACT relative to lawful commerce in firearms, including manufacture and sale, in New Hampshire.

SPONSORS: Rep. Hinkle, Hills 19; Rep. Kolodziej, Rock 4; Rep. Daniels, Hills 6; Rep. Sapareto, Rock 5

COMMITTEE: Criminal Justice and Public Safety

ANALYSIS

This bill exempts firearms, firearm accessories, and ammunition manufactured in New Hampshire from federal law and regulation.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

10-2351

04/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten

AN ACT relative to lawful commerce in firearms, including manufacture and sale, in New Hampshire.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Legislative Declarations of Authority. The legislature declares that the authority for this act is the following:

I. The 10th Amendment to the United States constitution guarantees to the states and their people all powers not granted to the federal government elsewhere in the constitution and reserves to the state and people of New Hampshire certain powers as they were understood at the time that New Hampshire ratified the Bill of Rights, particularly the 10^th Amendment in 1790. The guaranty of those powers is a matter of contract between the state and people of New Hampshire and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by New Hampshire and the United States.

II. The Ninth Amendment to the United States constitution guarantees to the people rights not granted in the constitution and reserves to the people of New Hampshire certain rights as they were understood at the time that New Hampshire ratified the Bill of Rights, particularly the 10^th Amendment in 1790. The guaranty of those rights is a matter of contract between the state and people of New Hampshire and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by New Hampshire and the United States.

III. The regulation of intrastate commerce is vested in the states under the 9th and 10th amendments to the United States constitution, particularly if not expressly preempted by federal law. Congress has not expressly preempted state regulation of intrastate commerce pertaining to the manufacture, on an intrastate basis, of firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition.

IV. The Second Amendment to the United States constitution reserves to the people the right to keep and bear arms as that right was understood at the time that New Hampshire ratified, in 1790, the Bill of Rights, particularly the Second Amendment, and the guaranty of the right is a matter of contract between the state and people of New Hampshire and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by New Hampshire and the United States, by that said ratification.

V. New Hampshire, having already established in 1784 its own constitution, with Articles 2 and 7 guaranteeing that New Hampshire citizens had the right to defend and protect life and property and that these rights would not be superseded by the powers granted to the Congress of the United States of America, such that when New Hampshire ratified the United States constitution these rights were clearly understood to exist in the State of New Hampshire. Article 2 of the New Hampshire Bill of Rights: Natural Rights. All men have certain natural, essential, and inherent rights among which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing, and protecting, property; and, in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness. Article 7 of the New Hampshire bill of rights clearly provides that the people of this state have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent state; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, pertaining thereto, which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegated to the United States of America in congress assembled, June 2, 1784.

VI. Article 2a of the New Hampshire Bill of Rights: The Bearing of Arms. All persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state, December 1, 1982. This article was an explicit recognition of the rights implicit in Article 2 as it was adopted in 1784.

2 New Chapter; Lawful Commerce in Firearms. Amend RSA by inserting after chapter 159-D the following new chapter:

CHAPTER 159-E

LAWFUL COMMERCE IN FIREARMS

159-E:1 Definitions. As used in this chapter, the following definitions apply:

I. “Firearm” means any weapon, including a starter gun, which will, or is designed to, or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive. “Firearm” shall include the frame or receiver of any such weapon, or any firearm muffler or firearm silencer.

II. “Firearms accessories” means items that are used in conjunction with or mounted upon a firearm but are not essential to the basic function of a firearm, including but not limited to telescopic or laser sights, magazines, flash or sound suppressors, folding or aftermarket stocks and grips, speedloaders, ammunition carriers, optics for target identification, and lights for target illumination.

III. “Generic and insignificant parts” includes but is not limited to springs, screws, nuts, and pins.

IV. “Manufactured” means that a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition has been created from basic materials for functional usefulness, including but not limited to forging, casting, machining, molding, or other processes for working materials.

159-E:2 Prohibitions. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, a personal firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in New Hampshire and that remains within the state of New Hampshire is not subject to federal law or taxation, or federal regulation, including registration, under the authority of congress to regulate interstate commerce. It is declared by the legislature that those items have not traveled in interstate commerce. This section applies to a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured in New Hampshire from basic materials and that can be manufactured without the inclusion of any significant parts imported from another state. Generic and insignificant parts that have other manufacturing or consumer product applications are not firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition, and their importation into New Hampshire and incorporation into a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition manufactured in New Hampshire does not subject the firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition to federal regulation. It is declared by the legislature that basic materials, such as, but not limited to, unmachined steel and unshaped wood, are not firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition and are not subject to congressional authority to regulate firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition under interstate commerce as if they were actually firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition. The authority of congress to regulate interstate commerce in basic materials does not include authority to regulate firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition made in New Hampshire from those materials. Firearms accessories that are imported into New Hampshire from another state and that are subject to federal regulation as being in interstate commerce do not subject a firearm to federal regulation under interstate commerce because they are attached to or used in conjunction with a firearm in New Hampshire.

159-E:3 Marketing of Firearms. A firearm manufactured or sold in New Hampshire under this chapter shall have the words “Made in New Hampshire” clearly stamped, inscribed, or otherwise marked on a central part of the firearm, such as the receiver or frame.

159-E:4 Applicability. This chapter shall apply to firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition that are manufactured, as defined in this chapter, and retained in New Hampshire after January 1, 2011.

3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2011.

HB 1343 – AS INTRODUCED

2010 SESSION

10-2280

10/03

HOUSE BILL 1343

AN ACT establishing a joint committee on the constitutionality of acts, orders, laws, statutes, regulations, and rules of the government of the United States of America in order to protect state sovereignty.

SPONSORS: Rep. Itse, Rock 9; Rep. Ingbretson, Graf 5; Rep. Comerford, Rock 9; Rep.�K.�Roberts, Ches 3

COMMITTEE: State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs

ANALYSIS

This bill establishes a joint committee of the legislature to consider the constitutionality of acts, orders, laws, statutes, regulations, and rules by the government of the United States including the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, and to consider the actions necessary to protect the sovereignty of the state of New Hampshire.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

10-2280

10/03

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten

AN ACT establishing a joint committee on the constitutionality of acts, orders, laws, statutes, regulations, and rules of the government of the United States of America in order to protect state sovereignty.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Findings.

I. The Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, Part 1, Article 7 declares that the people of this State have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent State; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, pertaining thereto, which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegated to the United States of America in congress assembled.

II. The Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, Part 2, Article 1 declares that the people inhabiting the territory formerly called the province of New Hampshire, do hereby solemnly and mutually agree with each other, to form themselves into a free, sovereign and independent body-politic, or State, by the name of The State of New Hampshire.

III. Each State acceded to the compact titled the Constitution for the United States of America as a State, and is an integral party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party.

IV. The State of New Hampshire when ratifying the Constitution for the United States of America recommended as a change, “First That it be Explicitly declared that all Powers not expressly & particularly Delegated by the aforesaid are reserved to the several States to be, by them Exercised.”

V. The other States that included recommendations, to wit Massachusetts, New York, North�Carolina, Rhode Island, and Virginia, included an identical or similar recommended change.

VI. These recommended changes were incorporated as the ninth amendment, the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people, and the tenth amendment, the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people, to the Constitution for the United States of America.

VII. Therefore, the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, all remaining powers for their own self-government.

VIII. The construction applied by the General Government, as is evidenced by sundry of their proceedings, to those parts of the Constitution of the United States which delegate to Congress a power “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States,” and “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof,” goes to the destruction of all limits prescribed to their power by the Constitution. Therefore, words meant by the instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of limited powers, ought not to be so construed as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part to be so taken as to destroy the whole residue of that instrument, and whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force.

IX. No power over the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the press being delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, all lawful powers respecting the same did of right remain, and were reserved to the States or the people. Furthermore, also they guarded against all abridgment by the United States of the freedom of religious opinions and exercises, freedom of speech and of the press, and retained to themselves the right of protecting the same by one of the amendments to the Constitution, which expressly declares, that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press;” thereby guarding in the same sentence, and under the same words, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press: insomuch, that whatever violated either, throws down the sanctuary which covers the others, and that libels, falsehood, and defamation, equally with heresy and false religion, are withheld from the cognizance of federal tribunals.

X. Therefore, all acts of Congress of the United States which do abridge the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, are not law, but are altogether void, and of no force.

XI. The Constitution of the United States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, offenses against the law of nations, and slavery, and no other crimes whatsoever.

XII. Therefore, all acts of Congress, the orders of the Executive or orders of the Judiciary which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution are altogether void, and of no force; and that the power to create, define, and punish such other crimes is reserved, and, of right, appertains solely and exclusively to the respective States, each within its own territory.

XIII. The State of New Hampshire when ratifying the Constitution for the United States of America recommended as a change, “Twelfth Congress shall never disarm any Citizen unless such as are or have been in Actual Rebellion.”

XIV. The other States that included recommendations, to wit New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Virginia, included an identical or similar recommended change.

XV. These recommended changes were incorporated as the second amendment, and, the United States Supreme Court has ruled in Heller v. The District of Columbia (2008) that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right of the people.

XVI. Therefore, all acts of Congress, the orders of the Executive or orders of the Judiciary which assume to regulate or license the ownership of firearms manufactured, sold, and held within the jurisdiction of any State are altogether void, and of no force; and that the power to regulate or license the ownership of firearms manufactured, sold, and held within the jurisdiction of any State is reserved, and, of right, appertains solely and exclusively to the respective States, each within its own territory subject to the limitations of its own Constitution.

XVII. The United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144 (1992), that congress may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states.

XVIII. Therefore, all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding are prohibited.

XIX. The Constitution for the United States of America, Article VI, states “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”

XX. Therefore, laws enacted, but not pursuant to the Constitution for the United States, Article I, Section 8, are not part of the supreme law of the land and are not binding upon the States comprising the United States or the citizens thereof.

XXI. The Constitution for the United States of America, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 gives Congress the authority to authorize inferior officers of the government of the United States of America not enumerated in the Constitution by law and for them to be appointed by the manner proscribed by law enacted by the Congress, and that the Constitution gives not such authority to the President, and therefore, no officer not authorized by Constitution or by law or exercising a power not authorized by the Constitution, nor their subordinates shall have any authority in, or over the sovereign State of New Hampshire, nor any inhabitant or resident thereof, nor any franchises created under the authority thereof when within the borders of the State of New Hampshire.

XXII. The government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.

XXIII. Therefore the Legislatures and Legislators of the several States have the right and duty to consider the constitutionality of any legislative act or order promlugated by the government of the United States of America; and to protect their governments, inhabitants, and residents and instruments created under their authority by prohibiting, and if necessary punishing the enforcement of any Acts by the Congress of the United States of America, Executive Order of the President of the United States of America, or Judicial Order by the Judicatories of the United States of America which assumes a power not delegated to the government of United States of America by the Constitution for the United States of America. Acts which would cause such a prohibition or punishment include, but are not limited to:

(a) Requiring the States to create a national identification card system.

(b) Requiring involuntary servitude, or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war, or pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

(c) Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service of persons under the age of 18 other than pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

(d) Any act regarding religion; further limitations on freedom of political speech; or further limitations on freedom of the press.

(e) Further infringements on the right to keep and bear arms including prohibitions of type or quantity of arms or ammunition.

XXIV. The Constitution for the United States of America guarantees to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive, when the Legislature cannot be convened, against domestic violence.

XXV. Therefore; there exists a class of Acts by the Congress of the United States, Executive Orders of the President of the United States of America, or Judicial Orders by the Judicatories of the United States of America, that constitute a direct challenge to the Constitution for the United States of America by the government of the United States including, but not limited to:

(a) Establishing martial law or a state of emergency within one of the States comprising the United States of America without the consent of the legislature of that State or authority derived from that body.

(b) Surrendering any power delegated or not delegated to any corporation or foreign government.

2 Committee Established to Consider the Constitutionality of Acts and Orders by the Government of the United States of America; State Sovereignty.

I. There is hereby established a joint committee on the constitutionality of acts, orders, laws, statutes, regulations, and rules of the government of the United States. This joint committee of the legislature shall consider the constitutionality of acts, orders, laws, statutes, regulations, and rules by the government of the United States including the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government, and consider the actions necessary to protect the sovereignty of the state of New�Hampshire and the liberty of its citizens by restraining the government of the United States to its constitutional limits. The committee shall be comprised of 3 senators chosen by the senate president and 8 representatives chosen by the speaker of the house of representatives. The members shall be chosen in a manner that reflects the proportions of the party affiliations of the membership of each chamber.

II. The joint committee on the constitutionality of acts, orders, laws, statutes, regulations, and rules of the government of the United States shall:

(a) Take recommendations from individual legislators of acts, orders, laws, statutes, regulations, and rules of the government of the United States to be considered.

(b) Meet regularly to hold public hearings on the constitutionality of acts, orders, laws, statutes, regulations, and rules of the government of the United States.

(c) When necessary propose legislation to prohibit, and if necessary, punish the enforcement of unconstitutional acts, orders, laws, statutes, regulations, and rules of the government of the United States.

III. The joint committee on the constitutionality of acts, orders, laws, statutes, regulations, and rules of the government of the United States shall communicate regularly with committees established for similar purposes by the other states comprising the United States of America.

IV. Nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent any individual legislator from communication with legislators of any other state comprising the United States of America regarding the constitutionality of acts, orders, laws, statutes, regulations, and rules of the government of the United States; to prevent any legislator from introducing legislation to protect the sovereignty of the State of New Hampshire or the liberty of its citizens from unconstitutional of acts or orders of the government of the United States; or to prevent the governor from challenging the constitutionality of acts, orders, laws, statutes, regulations, and rules of the government of the United States through the office of the attorney general of the state of New Hampshire.

3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 (original post by bikerbillnh)
NH Rep Dan Itse Calls Out the House. Again.
And yet again, we must inquire, why aren’t they embarrassed? Even just a little bit. But no-o-o-o. . . The first time, no one seemed sufficiently and justifiably contrite. This time, from 10/28/2009 — the same day the Senate couldn’t see fit to extricate itself from peaceful individuals’ medical decisions — is clearly no different.

Rep. Itse first references last term’s SB153, “relative to business practices between motor vehicle manufacturers, distributors, and dealers,” specifically. But he could just as easily have used as examples the recently eviscerated payday loan industry. Or any of the far too numerous professional licensing boards and mandatory requirements in NH (one of the most onerous lists in the country), and all of which directly restrict the forms of contracts into which your state “allows” you to enter. Our government is flatly prohibited from passing such legislation by the Constitution, by rule of law, and all these are just violations of merely one particular Constitutional provision.

Then Rep. Itse goes on to cite intentional Constitutional limitations on the imposition of taxes. You know, like income taxes?

And what is the reaction of this august body to the notion that they’ve violated their oaths (which they took most recently less than a year ago), and that violation thereof is, in fact, a serious matter for honest citizens? Chortles. Snickers from the peanut gallery, so to speak. It’s just so much mindless trivia, not an intentional proscription on the expansion of government’s delegated authority that they should be remotely expected in any substantive way to adhere to. And then — get this — they quite vocally don’t want a record of his chiding published! Stunning.

But I suppose no criminal wants evidence laying around, though, right? Well, by request of the orator, here it is, dear viewer, for all posterity. Including the “honorable” House’s reaction…