In tabling HB 1711, it is deeply disturbing that the New Hampshire Senate’s majority felt it necessary to protect the chronic and persistently mentally ill with a history of involuntary psychiatric hospitalization unfettered right to procure and own firearms. In a population of people who suffer disabling, persistent and severe symptoms of irrational thinking, delusional beliefs, and command hallucinations, what are our senators thinking? We protect the public by limiting drivers’ licenses of people who drive while intoxicated, yet the New Hampshire senate majority sees no benefit in protecting the public from people who acquire firearms with a history of severe mental illness and a forced psychiatric hospital admission.

Involuntary hospitalizations occur because a person presents with severe behavioral symptoms, refuses voluntary hospitalization, has no insight into their mental illness and are believed to be an imminent risk to themselves or others. These conditions are rooted in biological abnormalities and persist though one’s lifetime. How is this person then capable of responsible ownership of a firearm? Yet, the New Hampshire senate majority sees no need to protect the greater public from people with this history. What are they thinking?

Kenneth Cohen

Kensington