WORKPLACE
Abill now on its way to the governor’s desk will force businesses in New Hampshire to allow their employees to keep guns in their cars while at work. This will apply to any business that receives public funds in any form — hundreds of forprofit, nonprofit and public entities in our state — regardless of their own carefully developed workplace safety policies.
HB 1336 will impact retail and manufacturing businesses, schools and child care facilities, hospitals, mental health centers, state agencies, municipal offices, the courts — the list goes on. Anyone working in any one of those places will now be free to leave a loaded firearm in their car while they are at work, and by that I mean simply in their car — not in a gun lock box or storage container. The bill includes no safe storage of firearms provision, in violation of federal law on school grounds and in clear conflict with private business workplace policies.
HB 1336 only requires the vehicle to be locked and the firearm and ammunition to not be visible. At home, responsible gun owners lock their firearms in a storage cabinet; but with no gun lock box requirement included in HB 1336, guns could be easily accessible in the vehicle. What could possibly go wrong? Already, FBI data shows that 112 guns were reported stolen out of cars in Manchester in the last three years, and that there were 27 gun thefts from cars in Nashua.
Research has also shown that the majority of mass shootings in the United States has occurred in workplaces. According to a 2023 ABC News report, a nonprofit organization called the Violence Project found that mass shootings most often happen at the perpetrator’s current or former place of employment. “Most of the shooters had been fired,” the organization said. Further, the ABC report stated that, “Between 1966 and 2021, there were 53 workplace shootings carried out throughout the country, according to the Violence Project. This represented more than 30% of the 188 mass shootings recorded during that period, the organization said.”
It is breathtaking to think about the unintended consequences of this bill if the governor actually allows it to become law. Guns being stolen from cars that are left unlocked, or cars that are broken into; guns that are left within reach of kids who are picked up at school or day care; a gun in the hands of a disgruntled employee storming back into the office at the end of a bad day.
One proponent of HB 1336 said that he wants to be able to bring his rifle with him to work, so he can go target shooting on his way home. Another supporter said on the Senate floor that the bill is necessary so people can “protect themselves” on their way to and from work. This brings to mind Davy Crockett shooting game on the way back to his cabin, while defending himself at the same time from bears, mountain lions and bandits. It is hard to visualize a 2024 version of that scenario when we don’t actually live on the frontier or in the Wild West.
HB 1336 impacts the property rights of every business that interacts with local, state or federal government, from a sand wich shop to a defense contractor, because the bill covers any exchange of payment, of any type and amount, with the government. During the Senate hearing on the bill, one speaker admitted that HB 1336 will infringe on property rights, but he stated that the Second Amendment trumps that issue for him. But the New Hampshire Constitution also enshrines private property rights, and the passage of this legislation runs counter to that by dismissing the workplace safety policies of private and nonprofit businesses all over our state.
While HB 1336 creates an unnecessary and dangerous threat to the public health and safety, it also challenges basic common sense. At a time when increased gun safety is what New Hampshire should be working toward, this bill goes in the opposite direction and wildly expands access to loaded firearms, for no good reason. It does this while stomping on the rights of hundreds, if not thousands, of New Hampshire business owners to make their own decisions about safety in their workplaces. Please reach out to Gov. Sununu and urge him to veto this harmful legislation.
Rep. Mary Jane Wallner lives in Concord.
