Governor Hassan has vetoed the Constitutional Carry bill that was passed by the New Hampshire legislature. It’s worth nothing that Constitutional Carry in Maine is still awaiting the signature of Governor LePage, who is now saying he won’t sign it because the age is 21 rather than 18. I can’t find fault with the Governor’s reasoning, but I have to wonder if this is a game, because LePage has been saying he won’t sign anything until the legislature repeals the income tax. This being a way to live up to his promise, while appearing to be more pro-gun than thou.
I’d call his bluff and pass one that’s allows carry for those 18 and older, but I don’t know if we’d still have enough votes. Perhaps we can get this overridden? They’ve certainly been willing to do it for other bills. Constitutional Carry is a difficult issue. It’s been harder to get these bills done and made into law. It’s only going to be continued pressure from our people that will help get this done.
Full carry rights (i.e. constitutional carry) will likely be as much of an uphill battle as the current shall-issue status quo was in the 1980s and 1990s.
That being said, just as the establishment of shall-issue as the nationwide standard killed the practice of completely ignoring the RKBA from a statutory perspective, I believe that widespread adoption of constitutional carry will put an end to may-issue (i.e. won’t issue) regimes, and forcing fully-objective shall-issue as the minimum judicially accepted standard.
It may take a decade or two, but I don’t see the coastal holdouts lasting much longer in their quest to ignore this right.
That being said, another president making bad appointments to the top court could put a serious damper on any possible judicial improvements in the overall status quo of the practical scope of the RKBA. Given history, I don’t trust democrats to appoint RKBA-friendly individuals to judicial positions, and the track record of the last few so-called republicans has been a very mixed bag. We need an ideological partisan, not a middle-of-the-road milquetoast RINO.
Sebastian,
Your link to the status of Maine’s CC efforts is way out of date (last update June 3rd, over 1 month ago). Since that time a compromise was reached to allow current and former military personnel to carry at age 18. On July 1st, LePage said that he would sign the legislation. He will be signing this shortly.
http://www.wgme.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/-gov-lepage-says-hell-sign-constitutional-carry-bill-28076.shtml#.VZyBTvl2Eo0
Crap. You know what? That site puts today’s date on the page. I got an alert on this, saw the date, and assumed it was current. I’ll update after he signs.
Outstanding!