Sam Cohen's blog

[Please email me (Sam.Cohen@comcast.net) if you agree to co-sign this.]

An Open Letter to State Senator Jack Barnes:

Your sabotage of HB 1582 in the New Hampshire Senate was unforgivable.

HB 1582 would have set a national standard of liberty by refusing to have New Hampshire participate in the federal “Real ID” system. “Real ID” will require all Americans to carry an intrusive national ID card to enter a federal building, fly on an airplane, and maybe someday buy groceries. It will register people the way we register pets.

We, the undersigned politically active New Hampshire Republicans, are so disgusted and angry that we hereby pledge to do everything in our power to work against your reelection. God help us, but we’d rather see a Democrat in office than let this atrocity go unpunished.

Press release -- March 8, 2006 - Updated August 2006
Contacts:

State Representative Elbert "Bick" Bicknell*

* Update August 2006: Bick has moved to Arizona: tel (928) 685-4219, email redryder@tabletoptelephone.com

Sam Cohen, Sam.Cohen@comcast.net, (603) 224-2374 (principal author)

Upheaval at Gun Owners of New Hampshire

The late science-fiction author Robert A. Heinlein famously wrote that “an armed society is a polite society.” Well, not always, at least in small groups. Over the last year, visitors to the open Board meetings of Gun Owners of New Hampshire, once known as the state’s “powerful gun lobby,” have seen so much factional hostility, personal attacks, and belligerent outbursts that they describe the group as taken over by wingnuts, wackos, and crazies.

Frequently Asked Questions about New Hampshire Gun Laws

Copyright © 2006 Sam Cohen

From June 2002 until February 2006, I was the volunteer who received and returned messages to Gun Owners of New Hampshire, which uses voicemail to receive all calls. The most common calls were questions about New Hampshire gun laws, often asked by people thinking about moving here from other states. I particularly enjoyed talking to people from our neighboring state to the south, because if it was the first time they learned about our freedoms compared with the government restrictions in Massachusetts, they were like kids opening Christmas presents.

I’m not a lawyer and cannot offer legal advice, but it might be useful to present a summary of how I answered typical questions about New Hampshire gun laws. DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this article are mine only, and are not endorsed by any organization. I disclaim responsibility for any use that might be made of the contents of this article. For legal advice, contact an attorney. To view New Hampshire’s state laws (RSAs, Revised Statutes Annotated) on line, go to www.nh.gov and click on “Laws & Rules,” on the left side of the page.