Thursday, March 08, 2007

More Fixing What's Not Broken

Saw this linked at No Looking Backwards (aka MassBackwards).

This really irks me. They want to add some very vague words to allow some police disallow a CCR due to a "belief."
I. The selectmen of a town or the mayor or chief of police of a city or some full-time police officer designated by them respectively, upon application of any resident of such town or city, or the director of state police, or some person designated by such director, upon application of a nonresident, shall issue a license to such applicant authorizing the applicant to carry a loaded pistol or revolver in this state for not less than 4 years from the date of issue, if it appears that the applicant has good reason to fear injury to the applicant's person or property or has any proper purpose, and that the applicant is a suitable person to be licensed. Hunting, target shooting, or self-defense shall be considered a proper purpose. The official authorized to issue the license may deny a license to any person the official reasonably believes to be a member of a terrorist or criminal organization, as shown by sworn affidavit by such official or other law enforcement official or any other reliable person. The license shall be valid for all allowable purposes regardless of the purpose for which it was originally issued. The license shall be in duplicate and shall bear the name, address, description, and signature of the licensee. The original shall be delivered to the licensee and the duplicate shall be preserved by the people issuing the same for 4 years. When required, license renewal shall take place within the month of the fourth anniversary of the license holder's date of birth following the date of issuance. The license shall be issued within 14 days after application, and, if such application is denied, the reason for such denial shall be stated in writing, the original of which such writing shall be delivered to the applicant, and a copy kept in the office of the person to whom the application was made. The fee for licenses issued to residents of the state shall be $10, which fee shall be for the use of the law enforcement department of the town granting said licenses; the fee for licenses granted to out-of-state residents shall be $20, which fee shall be for the use of the state. The director of state police is hereby authorized and directed to prepare forms for the licenses required under this chapter and forms for the application for such licenses and to supply the same to officials of the cities and towns authorized to issue the licenses. No other forms shall be used by officials of cities and towns. The cost of the forms shall be paid out of the fees received from nonresident licenses.
That's just stupid. If you haven't been convicted, then a "belief" is a waste of time. Belief doesn't have to be backed by fact. No shock, the sponsors of the bill are all democrats.

This bill has no reason to exist and fixes nothing that is an issue in NH. It does push in vague wording that weakens a law that already is satisfactory as it is.

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