New Hampshire
Pro-gun group: Adding mental health records to NH do-not-sell list ‘insane,’ ‘crazy’
Pro-gun rights groups have made a Second Amendment argument against a New Hampshire bill that would stop gun sales to individuals whom a court had found dangerous enough to require commitment to a psychiatric hospital. One speaker warned a House committee at a public hearing last month against limiting the “God-given” right to own a gun.
The New Hampshire Firearms Coalition is reaching out to voters with another argument that mental health advocates – and the bill’s Republican sponsor – say is derogatory: It argues that it is “crazy” and “insane” to address public safety concerns by adding individuals hospitalized in limited circumstances to a do-not-sell list, as House Bill 1711 would.
The bill was prompted by the November shooting death of state hospital security officer Bradley Hass by former patient John Madore, who was then shot and killed by a state trooper. Madore had been committed to the state hospital at least once and had his guns confiscated in 2016.
The gun rights coalition instead argues that people hospitalized due to mental illness and dangerousness should be detained in the hospital until they are well. Upon release, it says, they should not be kept from buying a gun.
“If these people are so violent that they need to be disarmed, why are they released at all?” reads the flyer, which was sent to some House Republicans and their constituents. On the opposite side, it says: “Crazy is as crazy does.”
Rep. Terry Roy, a Deerfield Republican who co-sponsored HB 1711 with House Democratic Rep. David Meuse of Portsmouth, received the flyer, as did his constituents.
“It was insulting,” said Roy. “It was demeaning to anyone who has a mental illness, which a large portion of our population will at some point.” An estimated 1 in 5 people experiences a mental illness each year. Roy said that once he explained the bill to the couple of constituents who called him, “they were happy.”
Susan Stearns, executive director of NAMI New Hampshire, responded similarly when she saw the flyer.
“It’s deliberately trying to exploit the stereotype around people with mental illness being violent and needing to be kept away from society,” she said. “Ultimately that hurts a lot of Granite Staters and perpetuates that type of stereotype and stigma.”
Stearns and Roy said the flyer also misrepresents and overlooks the bill’s intent and measured balance between public safety and respecting the civil rights of people with mental illness. Not all mental health hospitalizations would qualify someone to be added to the federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System. And there would be a clearly defined process for getting off the list.
Rep. J.R. Hoell, a Dunbarton Republican and secretary of the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition, interprets the bill and flyer differently.
While the flyer does not say so, Hoell said he believes most people with mental illness are not violent and are more often the victims of violence. The use of “crazy” and “insane” was a “play on words,” he said, not intended to be insulting.
In Hoell’s mind, the bill would wrongly criminalize mental illness by allowing the federal government to deny people who’ve never committed a crime their Second Amendment rights simply because they’ve been involuntarily hospitalized due to danger concerns.
However, federal law already prohibits anyone committed to a psychiatric institution from buying or possessing a gun; New Hampshire, however, does not submit the relevant information to the database.
“This magic list does not solve the issue,” Hoell said, noting that upon release someone can get a gun beyond a gun store. “If you are a threat to others, you need residential care. If you don’t need residential care, you are not a threat to others. It’s A or B.”
Meuse remembers the day Roy, who has voted against every gun safety bill Meuse has supported, asked him to co-sponsor HB 1711. The two have collaborated on bail reform legislation but never shared common ground on gun bills.
“I just remember being really surprised and then thinking to myself, ‘OK, don’t do anything to screw this up,’” Meuse said. “This is a really good thing.”
It will go to the full House later this month with an overwhelming 18-2 vote from the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee that it be passed. In emotional testimony, the state hospital’s associate medical director called the shooting, during which the hospital security notification system failed, “one of the worst moments of my life.”
While eight committee Republicans joined Democrats in backing the bill, Roy knows he’ll face a fight on the House floor from Hoell, libertarians, and some in his own party.
“I’m disappointed in the shortsightedness of the Second Amendment community,” Roy said. “What they don’t seem to get is that we are better off not having dangerous people buying firearms because every time there is a mass shooting and someone has a mental health issue, there are calls for more restrictions on firearms.”
The bill would not apply to people who seek behavioral health treatment voluntarily or those who are the subject of an involuntary emergency admission petition.
The legislation would apply only to people who are involuntarily admitted on a non-emergency basis, after a court hearing, during which they would have legal representation. A judge would have to find them to have a mental condition that makes them dangerous to themselves or others.
The bill allows a court to confiscate an individual’s firearms and ammunition, but the person would have more control over how those guns are taken and where they are held.
The bill would provide a person the opportunity to petition a court for review of their “mental capacity,” a first step to being removed from the database. In some cases, they could do that within 15 days after their “absolute” discharge, meaning they are complying with treatment requirements. In other cases they must wait six months.
The Disability Rights Center-NH and NAMI NH required the bill include a process to be removed from the database. And the former persuaded the committee to limit the type of information entered into the database to protect individuals’ privacy. Even then, the Disability Rights Center-NH said it won’t support the bill because of civil rights concerns but also won’t oppose it.
Those same civil rights concerns will lead Hoell to oppose it vehemently.
At best, he said, he’d support a state “patient list” of people deemed a danger to others due to a short-term mental illness. That would keep information out of federal hands, a priority, he said. He would support a legal path to regaining the right to buy and purchase a gun.
Meuse believes there are other New Hampshire gun owners, some of them lawmakers, who will split with Hoell and back the bill. And he thinks the shooting death of Haas by an individual who was committed to a psychiatric facility and had his guns confiscated will be persuasive.
“When you see the surveys, it’s not just Democrats and the left, (but) a lot of people who own firearms, who hunt, who basically think that we’ve just sort of reached the point where if we don’t do something, the consequences of doing nothing are going to catch up to us even faster.”
This story was originally published by the New Hampshire Bulletin.
Recently published data reflect the ongoing increases in the price of child care and decreases in access to care in New Hampshire, placing additional economic strain on Granite State families seeking affordable and high-quality care for their children. The price of child care for a family with an infant and a four-year old seeking center-based care averaged about $30,000 in 2025, up from $22,500 in 2017, while the number of licensed center and home-based child care providers has declined by 120 since 2017.
The national organization Child Care Aware of America (CCAoA) released its 2025 annual report on May 13, 2026. The report outlines the state-by-state early childhood education landscape, including both the price of care and provider supply within each state. In New Hampshire, these data were collected through the CCAoA’s New Hampshire Child Care Resource and Referral Agency and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Together, these data provide valuable, and updated, insights into the state’s early childhood care landscape and the challenges Granite State families face in accessing and affording child care services.
Rising price of early childhood education in NH
Based on analysis conducted by CCAoA, the average price of child care in New Hampshire in 2025 remains high for Granite State families. The average price of care for an infant and toddler in center-based care was $16,462 and $15,262, respectively, in 2025. For home-based care, the 2025 average price was $12,017 for an infant and $11,732 for a toddler. Furthermore, for a family with an infant and toddler making approximately the median income for a married couple with two children under age 5 in New Hampshire, the price of center-based care for their children would amount to approximately 25% of their family income. This financial burden is even greater for a single or unmarried mother, earning the median income of approximately $52,000 in New Hampshire, as paying the full average price of center-based child care for an infant and toddler would consume 61% of family income.
Additionally, these prices in care have increased substantially over time. From 2017 to 2025, the average enrollment price of center-based care and home-based care increased 32% and 30%, respectively. The largest increase in tuition prices during this period was 33% for toddlers and 4-year-olds in center-based care, as well as for 4-year-olds in home-based care. These increases in tuition prices outpaced inflation during the same period.
For many Granite State families, the price for child care tuition will represent their greatest annual expense, particularly for families with multiple children and those living in rural regions of the state. According to Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator, a family with two adults and two children living in Coos County, the New Hampshire county with the lowest cost of living, would spend on average 2.5 times more for center-based care for an infant and toddler than they would on housing. As affordability challenges and the overall cost of living continue to rise, some families may have to contend with difficult tradeoffs among essential household and family expenses, including child care services.
Although care for infants and toddlers are often the most expensive forms of care, child care-related expenses do not end once children enter kindergarten. Many families continue paying for before- and after-school programs, summer care, and school vacation coverage for years afterward. As a result, the costs outlined in this analysis likely represent only one portion of the broader child care expenses many Granite State families face.
Childcare supply challenges persist
While the price of child care tuition in New Hampshire remains high, the number of licensed providers has declined over time. The CCAoA’s report indicated that, in 2025, there were 613 licensed center-based programs and 104 home-based programs across New Hampshire. However, since 2017, the number of licensed center-based and home-based programs decreased by 10% and 32%, respectively. The greater closure rate in home-based programs across the State may have a disproportionate impact on families with low and moderate incomes seeking more affordable care options, as well as families in rural regions, communities of color, and families seeking non-traditional hour care, who rely more on this type of care to fill the gaps in available care from other providers. This decrease in number of providers, particulars those in home-based settings and in rural regions of the State, has likely placed further strain on family’s access to care, as they may have to travel longer distances for child care services.
Alongside the overall decline in child care providers during this period, the number of center-based programs participating in the New Hampshire Quality Rated Improvement System, or Granite Steps for Quality (GSQ), a statewide program designed to assess and improve the quality of care services in early childhood education settings, has decreased 16%. Of the remaining 99 providers that participated in the GSQ in 2025, only four reached the highest level of quality, or step 4 of the GSQ. These findings suggest that, as families navigate New Hampshire’s shrinking child care supply landscape in the State, they are encountering fewer options that offer recognized high-quality care services.
Families and providers continue to face growing financial pressures
The average tuition prices reported in the CCAoA’s analysis of the New Hampshire Early Childhood Education landscape do not necessarily reflect the cost of care all families pay for enrollment, or the cost providers pay for delivery of care services. Many families with low and moderate incomes qualify for the New Hampshire’s Child Care Scholarship Program (NHCCSP), a federal-State fiscal partnership that helps Granite State families afford child care through a tiered voucher system. Families who are eligible to participate in the NHCCSP may pay a weekly “cost share” of anywhere from $0 to 7% of their family income, with different tiers of eligibility depending on those family income levels. Families enrolled in the NHCCSP may also be charged a “co-payment” by the provider if tuition exceeds the weekly standard rates set by DHHS. In 2024, State policymakers expanded NHCCSP income eligibility for families, resulting in a significant increase in the number of families enrolled in the program, though this growth has slowed in recent months.
Beyond the increase in eligibility for families in the 2024 expansion, policymakers also increased reimbursement rates for participating providers. While the provider reimbursement rates are set through the State’s Child Care Market Rate Survey, the prices only account for enrollment tuition prices. Consequently, these rates only capture what providers estimate families are willing and able to pay, but do not necessarily account for the provider costs for delivering high-quality care services and operating costs, including facility expenses, workforce and staff compensation, staff training, professional development training, as well as other costs. To supplement this gap in revenue, some providers turn to additional revenue streams such as grants, donations, and fundraising initiatives.
The rising price of child care tuition, coupled with the declining supply of providers in recent years, reflects the growing financial pressures families and child care providers face in New Hampshire. While programs such as the NHCCSP have an important and necessary role in reducing these barriers, additional State funding initiatives and policy strategies may be needed to more adequately address these challenges and provide meaningful financial relief for families seeking to access child care.
The New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute is sharing these articles with the partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. NHFPI is an independent nonprofit organization that explores, develops and promotes public policies that foster economic opportunity and prosperity for all New Hampshire residents. For more information visit nhfpi.org. These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.
SALEM, N.H. — A Lowell High School freshman was identified on Friday as the victim of a fatal shooting in Salem, where authorities say the 15‑year‑old was found dead outside a home during the pre-dawn hours.
New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella’s office said in a press release that police responding to a 911 call discovered the teen, identified as Wichai Saksene, just outside the residence on Orchard Terrace.
An autopsy later determined he died from a single gunshot wound to the chest, and his death has been ruled a homicide.
Authorities said the circumstances remain under active investigation but noted there is no known threat to the public, as all involved parties have been identified.
In a message that began “sad news for your awareness,” Lowell Public Schools Superintendent Liam Skinner told School Committee members that Saksene was a Lowell High freshman and former student of Stoklosa Middle School and Lincoln Elementary School.
He added that central office staff are assisting Lowell High with communications to staff and families and that Student Support Services has activated a critical incident team to be at the high school on Monday.
The Salem Police Department stated in a social media post that they are working with the New Hampshire State Police Major Crimes Unit and Formella’s office to investigate the shooting.
Follow Aaron Curtis on X @aselahcurtis, or on Bluesky @aaronscurtis.bsky.social.
New Hampshire
Transgender former New Hampshire state representative sentenced to 33 years for child sex abuse: report
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A transgender former New Hampshire state representative will spend more than three decades in federal prison after admitting to receiving nude photos of children at a Massachusetts daycare.
Stacie Marie Laughton, 41, of Nashua was sentenced to more than 33 years behind bars after pleading guilty to sexual exploitation of children, according to a report from local outlet WCVB.
Laughton received the explicit images from his former intimate partner, Lindsay Groves, 40, of Hudson, New Hampshire, who was sentenced earlier this month to 22 years in prison, according to the report.
FORMER SUBSTITUTE TEACHER AND BOYFRIEND FACE 38 CHILD SEX CHARGES AS BOND NEARS 9 MILLION
Former transgender Democrat New Hampshire Rep. Stacie Marie Laughton pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of children, according to the Nashua Police Department. (Nashua Police Department)
Groves, who previously pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual exploitation of children and one count of distribution of child pornography, was employed at the Creative Minds daycare in neighboring Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Authorities said that between May 2022 and June 2023, Groves took multiple photos of prepubescent children in a private bathroom during routine diaper and pull-up changes prior to nap time.
WASHINGTON STATE TEACHER CHARGED WITH INCEST AFTER ALLEGEDLY HAVING SEX WITH TWO TEENAGE BOYS SHE ADOPTED
Stacie Marie Laughton was sentenced to 33 years in prison. (Citizens Count)
Groves then sent the photos to Laughton via text message, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A forensic review of Laughton and Groves’ cellphones uncovered more than 10,000 text messages sent between the two over a one-month period in 2023.
Court documents revealed the messages included discussions about and transfers of explicit images of children, including victims as young as 3 to 5 years old.
Lindsay Groves used her position at a daycare to take illegal photos that were later shared with Laughton, authorities said. (Nashua Police Department)
The U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed all the children in the case were identified, and their families were contacted by law enforcement.
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Hillsborough County jail officials confirmed to NH Journal that Laughton has been housed in the male population.
Creative Minds Early Learning Center and the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
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