CONCORD, N.H. (Legal Newsline) – New Hampshire lawmakers who want to carry firearms to work will get a second chance to make their argument why.
On Aug. 28, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled for a group of members of the state House of Representatives who wish to overturn a 2019 amendment to House Rule 63 that prohibits the possession of any deadly weapon in Representatives Hall and other capitol facilities.
The trial court that dismissed their complaint failed to address the merits of the constitutional challenge and must now do so on remand, the Supreme Court ruled.
“(W)e conclude that the controversy as to whether House Rule 63 violates the appellant’s fundamental right to keep and bear arms under Part I, Article 2-a of the State Constitution is justiciable, and that the trial court erred when it dismissed the complaint,” Justice James Bassett wrote.
“We are not alone in recognizing these important principles. In United States v. Smith, the United States Supreme Court observed that, although the Federal Constitution ‘empowers each house to determine its own rules of proceedings,’ Congress ‘may not by its rules ignore constitutional restraints or violate fundamental rights.’”
The plaintiffs are Reps. John Burt, Kevin Craig, Alicia Lekas, Tony Lekas and Hershel Nunez. They say the rule - which prohibits, with limited exceptions, the carrying of any deadly weapon at Representatives Hall, anterooms, cloakrooms and the House gallery – violates their rights under the state Constitution.