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House tables bill on mental-health reporting for firearm background checks after contested floor rewrite
Summary
Lawmakers debated a rewritten version of HB 159 — which would expand reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and revise processes for restoring firearm rights — before voting to lay the bill on the table. Sponsors said the bill closes a federal reporting gap; opponents raised civil‑liberties and legal‑process concerns.
The New Hampshire House on March 6 debated House Bill 159, a bill that would require the state to report certain mental‑health records for federal firearm background‑check purposes and set processes related to firearm confiscation and restoration of rights. Representative Terry Roy, sponsor of the floor rewrite, framed the measure as a public‑safety step to report qualifying mental‑health adjudications to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
"We're one of two or three states in the whole country that don't do it," Representative Terry Roy said on the House floor, urging colleagues to support the rewritten bill so…
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