New Hampshire Senate files bill inspired by state hospital shooting – NECN

A bipartisan bill drafted in response to the fatal shooting of a New Hampshire hospital security guard has hit a roadblock in the state Senate.

The GOP-controlled Senate voted 13-10 Thursday night to introduce a bill inspired by Bradley Haas, who was killed in November by a former patient at Concord Psychiatric Hospital.

While federal law prohibits those who have been involuntarily committed to mental institutions from purchasing firearms, New Hampshire does not currently submit mental health records to the database that gun dealers use to check their background. Bradley’s Law would require these records to be submitted. It would also create a process by which someone could regain their gun ownership rights when they no longer pose a danger to themselves or others.

The bill is sponsored by Republican Rep. Terry Roy and Democratic Rep. David Meuse. In the House, where Republicans have a narrow majority, the bill passed 204-149, with about two dozen Republicans joining Democrats in supporting it in March. It will die in the Senate unless senators vote to take it off the table next week, or a supermajority votes to consider it afterward.