AG: 'Stand Your Ground' Should be Reviewed

A bill to repeal "stand your ground" in New Hampshire fell flat in the Legislature this year, but the bill's sponsor says it could be revisited following comments by Attorney General Joseph Foster that the law should be reviewed.

"In light of the attorney general's comments, it's something to consider," House Majority Leader Steve Shurtleff (D-Penacook) said in a phone interview Thursday with Patch.

The House narrowly passed the repeal bill earlier this year, on a 189-184 vote, but the Senate was always the hurdle. The Senate, where Republicans have a 13-11 majority, moved 19-5 to table the bill.

Shurtleff said the legislative debate on the bill was misleading. He said opponents argued that it was an anti-gun bill. The bill would only have returned New Hampshire to the personal defense law, known as the "Castle Doctrine," which was in place for 40 years – and which, Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, R-Manchester, noted in House debate, was never challenged in court. Supporters of the more limited repeal argued, too, that it was not about guns (Shurtleff, for one, is a military veteran, a gun owner and a retired Dep. U.S. Marshal).

The bill, House Bill 135, was titled "relative to physical force in defense of a person and relative to the definition of non-deadly force." The bill would peal back the 2012 provision "allowing a person to use deadly force anywhere he or she has a right to be."

Even if the modified repeal bill had passed, supporters argued, it would not prevent someone from using deadly force if retreat was impossible. Opponents, however, said the current law should stand the test of time before review. Jeb Bradley, Shurtleff's counterpart in the state Senate, has basically said the issue was put to rest last month.

After the George Zimmerman verdict in Florida, "stand your ground" laws around the country are getting some new attention. It's interesting in the wake of the Zimmerman trial, said Dean Spiliotes, a political scientist and analyst who writes NH Political Capital.

"It's hard to say what's going to happen in New Hampshire," he said in an interview Thursday.

It is sure to spur debate, he added. The question remains, will it change the course of the debate?