Free Republic

Mitt Romney now trails by only 6 points in New Hampshire, according to a new poll released Tuesday evening. The latest WMUR Granite State poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, shows President Barack Obama leading Romney among likely voters, 47 percent to 41 percent. Obama held a 15-point lead in last week's Granite State poll, which was conducted Sept. 27-30. The latest poll was conducted Sept. 30-Oct. 6, with 57 percent of the responses coming before the Oct. 3 presidential debate in Denver. As has been the case with other post-debate polling shifts, Obama has seen...

A middle schooler's science project was so alarming to a Manchester, N.H., man that he called police after the contraption landed on his driveway. Eighth-grader Jack Miron of nearby Walton, N.H., had a grand idea for a science project. The Pine Hill Waldorf student rigged a box that included a video camera, weather recording equipment, flags and a beeping device onto a weather balloon, WMUR reports. He and his mother launched it from Bedford, N.H., to see what it could record.

EPPING, N.H. (AP) — Authorities say a New Hampshire woman has been arrested four times in 26 hours for blasting the AC/DC song ‘‘Highway to Hell’’ and other loud music from her home and for throwing a frying pan. Police first issued a warning to Joyce Coffey on Tuesday afternoon at her home in Epping. They say they were called back an hour later and arrested her for the loud music.

The man who attracted local attention when he carried a pistol into a Hanover theater Monday night said his actions had nothing to do with the gunman in Colorado three days before that killed 12 movie-goers and wounded 58. Ryan Ruby, 27, of Littlestown, said he wasn't trying to make a point or draw attention to himself when he went to see "The Dark Knight Rises" openly carrying his pistol. For him, he said, it was habit. Ruby said he's been carrying a firearm openly for about two years. He goes to the movie theater in Hanover at least once...

PETERBOROUGH — A gun club official says members are doing all they can to be considerate of their neighbors. The Monadnock Rod and Gun Club will most likely not make any changes after receiving a letter from selectmen asking it to be quieter, said Mark Carbone, chairman of the board of directors. Neighbors recently brought their concerns to town officials about noise levels at the shooting range increasing in recent years. Town officials said they could not make the gun club change its activities because it has not done anything illegal. But selectmen sent a letter last week requesting the...

By CRAIG N. LIADIS New Hampshire Union Leader A Leominster, Mass., police officer is under investigation to determine whether he called Boston Red Sox outfielder Carl Crawford a racial slur during a New Hampshire Fisher Cats game in Manchester last week. Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella confirmed that an investigation is ongoing and that the officer, who was not identified, has been assigned to desk duty. “We received tips earlier in the week identifying the person,'' Mazzarella said. Fisher Cats President Rick Brenner isn't concerned where the individual is from. “I don't want to get into a border war,” Brenner said....

BOSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling dismissing a lawsuit filed by a Massachusetts woman whose son was killed during a botched robbery at a New Hampshire Army surplus store. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the owner of the gun used in the July 2007 shooting at the Army Barracks store in Conway, N.H. was not negligent.

With all the buzz and anticipation surrounding the final rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court the past week, there has been little attention to an interesting legal development in New Hampshire: On June 18, Governor John Lynch (no relation) signed HB 146 into law and it becomes effective on January 1, 2013. HB 146 concerns “the right of a jury to judge the application of the law in relationship to the facts in controversy.” It’s popularly known as “the jury nullification bill.” In this post, I will try to explain what impact this new law may have in the New...

The New Hampshire legislature on Wednesday overrode Gov. John Lynch’s veto of a voter ID bill, making it the latest state to require that voters present photo identification at the polls. Under Senate Bill 289, which takes effect this September, a variety of identification forms will be acceptable, or residents can sign an affidavit at the polling site to vote. In September 2013, however, that list will be shortened — student ID cards and documents more than 5 years old, for example, will no longer be valid — and voters who prefer to sign affidavits will have to have their...

Obama, on ice cream run, orders hot fudge sundae and offers to treat shop patronsBy Alicia M. Cohn - 06/25/12 04:36 PM ET President Obama made an ice cream run to a local shop in New Hampshire on Monday between campaign stops, recording a birthday greeting and offering to treat patrons to sweet treats. The president ordered a hot fudge sundae for himself and a banana split for White House press secretary Jay Carney, according to press pool reports. He also teased that Carney has a serious sweet tooth. "You guys are going to witness him eating the whole thing,”...

With the decision to own a gun comes the responsibility to control access to it, but there are limits to that responsibility. A case now before a federal appeals court in Boston will test those limits in ways that are important to the one-third to one-half of all New Hampshire households that own firearms. Michael Woodbury, a 31-year-old felon, went on a crime spree almost as soon as he was released from a Maine prison. That spree ended at a military surplus store in Conway where on July 2, 2007, Woodbury killed the store's manager and two young tourists who...

In a case attorneys say has no precedent in New Hampshire, a federal appeals court is weighing whether the owner of a handgun used to kill three people at a Conway military surplus shop in July 2007 could be held liable for their murders. Lawrence Secord didn't do enough to secure the .22-caliber handgun he kept at his camp in Wentworth Location, enabling his grandson, Michael Woodbury, to steal it and open fire in the Army Barracks store several days later, according to a lawsuit brought by the mother of one of the victims. A federal judge decided Secord didn't...

Charlotte, NC --(Ammoland.com)- Important pro-gun legislation needs your IMMEDIATE help. There is only ONE week left for the state Senate to act on House Bill 536. If the Senate does not take action on HB 536 by Thursday, May 17, law-abiding residents of New Hampshire will lose an opportunity to expand their gun rights. Introduced by state Representative J.R. Hoell (R-13), this Right-to-Carry reform legislation would repeal the existing law that requires a person to have a concealed firearm license in order to carry concealed. However, HB 536 would not eliminate the current carry permitting system, which will still be...

According to New Hampshire law enforcement officials, Brittany Tibbetts bought a Ruger .357 revolver at a gun show in Manchester during the weekend of Jan. 14-15. Three months later, the weapon was one of two handguns recovered by police in the home of Cullen Mutrie following the April 12 shooting death of Greenland Police Chief Michael Maloney and the wounding of four other officers. Investigators have said Mutrie shot the officers and killed Tibbetts before taking his own life. Associate Attorney General Jane Young didn't say how officials discovered Tibbetts purchased the weapon at that gun show or whether the...

Milford, NH --(Ammoland.com)- The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Constitutional Carry (HB 536) on this Wednesday, April 25th! I wish this meant the Senate intended to pass the bill. Unfortunately, my sources are telling me the Senate is already planning to kill this bill without a recorded vote. You read that right. Despite the fact that a majority of the Senate has pledged to support Constitutional Carry — Republican Senator Peter Bragdon is still leading the fight to make sure this bill doesn’t pass. What’s worse, in a sickening display of politics at its worst, anti-gun Senators...

Posted Friday, April 6, 2012, at 12:30 p.m.] In a court case that should give notice to every police chief in New Hampshire to obey the law on issuing concealed carry licenses, Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Kenneth R. McHugh ordered Newton Police Chief Lawrence Streeter to issue Robert J. Ferrara’s concealed carry license (License to Carry) and awarded attorney fees and costs. Under New Hampshire law (RSA 159:6-f), an issuing authority -- typically the police chief -- may be personally liable to pay reasonable attorney fees and costs for violating the state law on issuing licenses (RSA 159:6). In...

House Speaker Bill O'Brien reported with satisfaction yesterday that conduct by House Republicans at a hearing last year deemed "unruly and aggressive" by the attorney general did not violate any laws or legislative ethics. O'Brien said an investigation he requested by the head of State House security turned up no wrongdoing, but he told Attorney General Michael Delaney that the representatives involved "were very upset when the allegations made by you and your staff were not founded when made and publicized."

Jonathan Wasserman and Kristina Landry on either side of Cardinal Raymond L. Burke. Rome, Italy, Mar 30, 2012 / 04:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, head of the Vatican's highest court, described the beauty of receiving two young Americans in Rome into the Catholic Church.  “Today we are privileged to witness in a most beautiful manifestation the work of God’s grace flowing from the glorious pierced Heart of Jesus through the mediation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,” said Cardinal Burke in his homily March 28. Jonathan Wasserman, 19, from Kansas City, Missouri, and 19-year-old Kristina Landry...

FARMINGTON — County Attorney Tom Velardi dropped all charges Thursday against the local man who fired a gun into the ground while stopping an alleged burglar last weekend, calling him an “upstanding member of the community for 61 years.” Dennis Fleming, 61, of 53 Ten Rod Road was arrested Saturday and charged with reckless conduct after he fired his .38 caliber hand gun into the ground in an attempt to stop Joseph Hebert, 27, of Bunker Street, after seeing the man coming out of a neighbor's window. Fleming was looking for the man after finding that his own home had...

<p>FARMINGTON, N.H. (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston) - A New Hampshire District Attorney has dropped a felony charge against 61-year-old Dennis Fleming bringing an end to a case that sparked national outrage.</p> <p>Last Saturday, the great-grandfather fired a warning shot into the ground to get the attention of an accused burglar.</p>