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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 the state would not forfeit federal dollars and so law enforcement and the public would be protected. Roy said he removed language on weapon confiscation from his version and added procedural protections, including placing the burden on the state when someone seeks to restore rights.
Opponents, including members who spoke during the debate, pressed several concerns: whether the bill would change penalties or remove existing protections for people with mental illness, how the bill would treat individuals who were involuntarily committed or later deemed fit, and the risk of unintended consequences if federal system entries became effectively permanent. Some speakers urged caution given recent high‑profile incidents and the limits of criminal‑justice and health‑care systems to address upstream causes of violence.
After extended debate and floor amendment activity, a motion to lay HB 159 on the table passed. The transcript shows the motion to remove the bill from the table failed later when members were asked to take it off the table, leaving HB 159 inactive at the end of this session day.
The House did not adopt the bill on final passage; it remains tabled. The record includes floor amendments and committee report references but no final enactment on March 6.
Context: HB 159 attracted attention because it touches on the intersection of mental‑health treatment, due process and federal firearms reporting. Supporters said bringing the state into NICS reporting aligns New Hampshire with most other states and helps prevent firearms purchases by people found to be dangerous; opponents warned about overbroad entries, insufficient due‑process safeguards and the difficulty of unwinding records once they enter federal systems.
What happens next: Because the House laid the bill on the table during this session, the measure is effectively paused until the sponsors or a future committee revival brings it back for further action.
