4 bills fail to pass muster with Lynch(NH)

By KEVIN LANDRIGAN
Staff Writer

CONCORD – Gov. John Lynch vetoed four bills Wednesday including one to expand a resident’s right to defend himself in public using deadly force (SB 88).

“SB 88 would unleash the potential for increasing deadly violence in our communities,” Lynch wrote in his veto message. “It would allow the use of deadly force on street corners, in shopping malls, public parks and in retail stores. Drug dealers and other felons who brandish weapons will be further emboldened to use their weapons, while prosecution of those criminals will be made more difficult because of this bill’s expansion of the right to use deadly force.”

The Republican-dominated Legislature seems prepared to easily override Lynch’s veto on self-defense based upon its votes to approve the measure last month.

The bill would make New Hampshire the 32nd state to have a so-called Castle Doctrine that lets someone stand his or her ground with deadly force if threatened outside the home.

Under current law, people must try to safely retreat from such threat unless it takes place on their property.

This bill would allow someone to use deadly force wherever “he or she has the right to be.”

House Speaker William O’Brien, R-Mont Vernon, predicted lawmakers would overcome Lynch’s move.

House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt, R-Salem, ridiculed it.

“Today, Gov. Lynch continued to show opposition to the spirit of the Second Amendment,” Bettencourt said. “Having the right to carry a firearm, but then saying that you can’t use it to defend yourself when your life is in danger is absurd and shows a lack of respect for the safety of Granite Staters.”

The New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police last week urged Lynch to veto the bill and insisted this was not about the rights of gun owners.

“The issue is under what circumstances this Legislature is willing to allow people to engage in conduct whether it be shooting a gun, using a knife, driving a car, or swinging a baseball bat that poses a risk of death or serious bodily injury to another,’’ the police chiefs wrote.

‘’We are not aware of any problems with the current law that warrants such a significant expansion of the law. The use of deadly force in self-defense should be justified under the law only in those situations where there is no reasonable alternative.’’

Lynch has vetoed similar bills in previous years, and in 2006 he had the backing of then-Attorney General and current U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte of Nashua.

But the GOP-led House of Representatives and state Senate each adopted this latest measure by more than 3-1 margin.

It takes a two-thirds majority to override a governor’s veto.

Lynch also vetoed legislation (HB 542) that lets parents decide what school material they find “objectionable.”

Under this bill, school officials would have to find an alternative for the student of the objecting parent at the family’s expense.

The four-term Democratic chief executive said the bill goes too far. Current law permits parents to remove their children from lessons on health or sex education.

“This legislation in essence gives every individual parent of every student in a classroom a veto over every single lesson plan developed by a teacher,” Lynch wrote.

The two other bills Lynch vetoed would extend for two more years the life of the state Commission on the Status of Men (HB 380) and the other to prevent cities and towns from requiring automatic sprinklers be installed in mobile homes within mobile home parks (SB 91).

Lynch noted that as part of an efficiency move affecting dozens of state boards, the Legislature eliminated the Commission on the Status of Women that was in place since 1969.

The commission for issues affecting men came into being in 2002.

“People may in good conscience disagree and debate the relative merits of the two commissions. But there can be little disagreement that eliminating the Commission on the Status of Women while extending the Commission on the Status of Men makes little sense,” Lynch wrote.

“If the Commission on the Status of Men wishes to continue its work and mission, it should do so in the same way as the Commission on the Status of Women, as part of private or nonprofit organization.”

On sprinklers the Legislature overrode a similar Lynch veto last month to prevent cities and towns from requiring sprinklers in new, one and two-family residences (HB 109).

Kevin Landrigan can reached at 321-7040 or klandrigan@nashuatelegraph.com. Also check out Landrigan (@KLandrigan) on Twitter and don’t forget The Telegraph’s new, interactive live feed at www.nashuatelegraph.com/topics/livefeed.