The Firearms License Review Board was specifically created by legislature, and given statutory authority to remove certain misdemeanor convictions as bars to holding firearms licenses. The FLRB, on which I sat for its first seven years, granted relief, after hearing and review, to about 340 applicants.

In May, 2018, the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security issued a memo to all 351 police chiefs in the state, directing them to ignore that restoration of rights by the FLRB, and to revoke all licenses so issued, or refuse to renew them upon expiration. The effect of this edict was to effectively negate all such decision the FLRB, and strip those holding such licenses of them. Note that in 2015, three years before EOPSS issued its dictat, the New Hampshire Supreme Court had thoroughly analyzed the reasoning EOPSS used - and completely rejected it.

By the time this case finally came to trial, after a 10-week delay, NINE District Courts had rejected EOPSS' reasoning, and overturned the chief's revocation of the LTC in each case. I sent town counsel, representing the chief in this case, all nine District Court decisions prior to trial.

Despite the weight of case law uniformly rejecting his client's act as justified or correct, his offer was for my client and I to dismiss our case, at which time the chief would let my client pay another $100 to apply for a new license - which counsel and the chief also claimed the state would not issue. Note that my client could have applied for a new license at any time; the chief's "permission" to do so was not required.

That offer; abandon an action in which dozens of hours, thousand of dollars, and months of waiting were already invested, in return for a worthless promise, was summarily rejected; both prior to the hearing, and again in oen court. After a protracted discussion of the issues and law between the litigants and the judge, the court ordered the relief my client sought, exactly as stated in our Petition For Judicial Review.

The chief also graciously expedited a new LTC application and waived the fee that afternoon, even before the actual order and decision issued.

Thanks to Commonwealth Second Amendment for its support in these cases.