Gun laws in New Hampshire regulate the sale, possession, and use of

firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

s and

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

in the state of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

in the United States. New Hampshire's gun laws are amongst some of the most permissive in the United States; while the state has not had a mass shooting event since 1982, its per capita gun death rate, the 9th lowest gun death rate of the 50 states, is double neighboring Massachusetts, which has among the strictest gun laws in the U.S. This is driven entirely by a difference in suicide rates between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, since New Hampshire also has the lowest per capita murder rate of any state, which is less than half the per capita murder rate in Massachusetts.

Summary table

State constitutional provisions

Article 2-a of the

Constitution of New Hampshire The Constitution of the State of New Hampshire is the fundamental law of the State of New Hampshire, with which all statute laws must comply. The constitution became effective June 2, 1784, when it replaced the state's constitution of 1776. Th ...

states:

"All persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state."

Concealed and open carry

Since February 22, 2017, New Hampshire has been a

constitutional carry In the United States, the term constitutional carry, also called permitless carry, unrestricted carry, or Vermont carry, refers to the legal public carrying of a handgun, either openly or concealed, without a license or permit. The phrase does ...

state, requiring no license to

open carry In the United States, open carry refers to the practice of visibly carrying a firearm in public places, as distinguished from concealed carry, where firearms cannot be seen by the casual observer. To "carry" in this context indicates that the fir ...

concealed carry Concealed carry, or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon (usually a sidearm such as a handgun), either in proximity to or on one's person or in public places in a manner that hides or conceals the weapon's pre ...

a firearm in public. Concealed carry permits are still issued for purposes of reciprocity with other states. The New Hampshire license is issued for carry of a "pistol or revolver", and is not a license to carry "weapons" as exists in some other states. The New Hampshire license is issued by the local mayor, selectmen, or police department at a cost of $10 for residents, and by the

New Hampshire State Police The New Hampshire State Police is a state police agency within the Department of Safety of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. Police employees of the State Police are ex officio constables and have the primary role of patrolling the state highways ...

at a cost of $100 for non-residents (changed from $20 on July 1, 2009). The term of issue of the license is five years. Turn around time is generally one to two weeks, with fourteen days being the maximum time allowed by law. New Hampshire has no laws restricting the age at which a person may possess and carry firearms. On June 2, 2016, the

New Hampshire Supreme Court The New Hampshire Supreme Court is the supreme court of the U. S. state of New Hampshire and sole appellate court of the state. The Supreme Court is seated in the state capital, Concord. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associate ...

, in ''Bach v. New Hampshire Dept. of Safety'', No. 2014–0721, 2016 WL 3086130, threw out a rule imposed by concealed carry permit issuing authorities that had required non-residents to have a permit to carry issued by the state in which they resided. The basis for invalidating such rule was that it denied a New Hampshire non-resident permit to residents of jurisdictions that are effectively ''No-Issue'', such as New Jersey, California, Hawaii, and others.

References

{{Gun laws in the United States (by state) New Hampshire law

Summary table

State constitutional provisions

Concealed and open carry

See also

References