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Lawmakers and witnesses spar over bill to expand criminal-threatening law for replica guns
Summary
A Senate Judiciary hearing drew sharply divided testimony on HB1240, which would broaden 'criminal threatening' to include conduct involving items that 'reasonably appear' to be deadly weapons. Attorneys, advocacy groups and law-enforcement critics warned the change could criminalize replicas and toys and give prosecutors extra leverage; sponsors argued stronger tools are needed to protect public servants and victims.
Senate Judiciary Committee members heard nearly two hours of testimony on HB1240, a bill that would expand the state's criminal-threatening laws to cover situations in which an object 'reasonably appears' to be a deadly weapon.
Attorney Penny Dean, who identified herself as a New Hampshire practitioner with federal court experience, urged the committee to send the bill to interim study or substantially rewrite it. "The road to heck is paved with good intentions," she said, arguing the measure would create prosecution risk for people who handle or display training guns, toy…
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