New Hampshire preempts municipal regulation of firearms. RSA 159:26 vests authority and jurisdiction over the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession,...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
New Hampshire preempts municipal regulation of firearms. RSA 159:26 vests authority and jurisdiction over the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting, and taxation of firearms, firearm components, ammunition, firearms supplies, and knives in the state, to the extent consistent with federal law. A city or town cannot pass its own firearms ordinances except in the two narrow areas the statute preserves.
RSA 159:26 (Firearms, Ammunition, and Knives; Authority of the State):
I. "To the extent consistent with federal law, the state of New Hampshire shall have authority and jurisdiction over the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting, taxation, or other matter pertaining to firearms, firearms components, ammunition, firearms supplies, or knives in the state. Except as otherwise specifically provided by statute, no ordinance or regulation of a political subdivision may regulate the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting, taxation, or other matter pertaining to firearms, firearms components, ammunition, or firearms supplies in the state. Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting a political subdivision's right to adopt zoning ordinances for the purpose of regulating firearms or knives businesses in the same manner as other businesses or to take any action allowed under RSA 207:59."
II. "Upon the effective date of this section, all municipal ordinances and regulations not authorized under paragraph I relative to the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting, taxation, or other matter pertaining to firearms, firearm components, ammunition, firearms supplies, or knives shall be null and void."
NH preemption is broad. RSA 159:26, I reaches:
The statute also reaches knives, which most state preemption statutes do not.
RSA 159:26, I preserves two narrow carve-outs.
Zoning. A municipality may adopt zoning ordinances that regulate firearms or knives businesses (gun stores, ranges) in the same manner as other businesses. A city may, for example, restrict firearm retailers from operating in residential zones, so long as the restriction applies equally to other commercial uses. This is a power to zone businesses, not a power to regulate firearms themselves.
Action allowed under RSA 207:59. RSA 207:59 is the wildlife-management authority statute. It gives the state exclusive authority and jurisdiction over the management, preservation, protection, propagation, and taking of wildlife, and it bars political subdivisions from regulating those wildlife matters. Its only carve-out is a property-rights clause: "Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting a political subdivision's property rights concerning land owned and controlled by that entity." The RSA 159:26 cross-reference to RSA 207:59 means a municipality may exercise that property-rights carve-out over land it owns and controls. It does not give a town a backdoor route to regulate firearms generally.
The general result: a NH municipality cannot enact a local concealed-carry ordinance, a local magazine-capacity limit, a local universal-background-check ordinance, a local waiting period, a local registration scheme, a local "no firearms in city parks" rule, or any other restriction beyond what state law already provides.
RSA 159:26, II provides that "all municipal ordinances and regulations not authorized under paragraph I... shall be null and void." Any NH municipal firearm ordinance that was on the books when the controlling version of the preemption statute took effect is void to the extent it falls outside the paragraph I carve-outs.
A carrier confronting a municipal officer who cites a local firearms ordinance has a NH-law defense: the ordinance is void under RSA 159:26 unless it fits the zoning or RSA 207:59 property-rights carve-out.
NH does not have a freestanding statutory enforcement mechanism in RSA 159:26 itself (for example, a fixed civil penalty payable to a private litigant against a municipality that violates preemption). A carrier or business challenging a void ordinance typically files for declaratory and injunctive relief in superior court. The remedy is invalidation of the ordinance.
RSA 159:26, I qualifies the state's authority "to the extent consistent with federal law." Federal firearms law overlays state law and continues to apply. The prohibited-person rules in 18 U.S.C. 922(g) (which bar possession by, among others, felons, fugitives, unlawful drug users, those adjudicated mentally defective or committed, and certain others), the National Firearms Act, and the Gun-Free School Zones Act at 18 U.S.C. 922(q) all operate regardless of NH preemption. NH municipalities cannot regulate firearms more restrictively than NH state law allows, and federal law sets a separate floor that no level of state or local government can drop below.
A NH city or town may not, by local ordinance, prohibit firearms in city parks. Such an ordinance regulates possession and use, which RSA 159:26 reserves to the state, so it is void unless state law itself authorizes the restriction.
A municipality may set rules for its own facilities (for example, a city-owned community center) as part of its proprietary role as a landowner, which is distinct from a regulatory enactment. RSA 207:59's property-rights clause reflects the same landowner principle in the wildlife context. The line between proprietary management of municipally owned property and a regulatory ordinance is fact-specific.
Federal law and state law both address firearms at schools, and the two work together rather than displacing each other.
The federal Gun-Free School Zones Act, 18 U.S.C. 922(q), makes it unlawful to knowingly possess a firearm in a school zone, with several exceptions. One exception applies when the individual is licensed by the state in which the school zone is located, or by a political subdivision of that state, under a licensing scheme that requires the licensing authority to verify the person's eligibility before issuing the license. RSA 159:6, II also bars a fingerprint or photograph requirement for the NH license unless the applicant requests it, so carriers should understand how the 922(q) license exception interacts with NH's license process before relying on it near a school.
Importantly, 18 U.S.C. 922(q)(4) states that the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act does not preempt or prevent a state or local government from enacting its own gun-free school zone statute. So the federal provision is a floor, not a ceiling, on school-zone restrictions, and NH's own statutes on firearms at schools operate alongside it. School-board policies governing firearms on school property are generally treated as proprietary management of school property rather than as a municipal firearms ordinance, which is why they are not simply voided by RSA 159:26.
The following kinds of local ordinances fall outside the RSA 159:26 carve-outs and conflict with state preemption:
Each of these regulates ownership, possession, use, or storage, which RSA 159:26 reserves to the state.
NH carriers can travel throughout the state without facing a patchwork of local firearm rules. The legal framework is statewide and consistent. The optional Pistol/Revolver License under RSA 159:6 is valid in every NH municipality. Constitutional (permitless) carry under RSA 159:6, III lets any adult who is not prohibited by NH or federal statute carry a firearm, openly or concealed, loaded or unloaded, with or without a license, and that right is the same in every NH municipality.
RSA 159:26 traces to a 2003 enactment (2003, ch. 283:2) and was amended in 2011 (2011, ch. 139:1, effective August 6, 2011). The current statute carries the "null and void" language in paragraph II and the broad scope that reaches firearms components, ammunition, firearms supplies, and knives. The Source note on the statute reflects these dates.
State preemption under RSA 159:26 runs downward, from the state to its municipalities. A separate question is whether federal law preempts state law on a given firearm topic. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), at 15 U.S.C. 7901 and the sections that follow, bars most civil liability actions against firearms manufacturers and dealers for harm caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of a firearm by a third party. PLCAA is a federal limit that applies regardless of NH preemption. NH's downward preemption of municipalities and the federal preemption framework above it are two different layers.
RSA 159:26 is one of the stronger state firearms-preemption statutes in the country. NH municipalities have no authority to regulate firearms beyond state law, except for the narrow business-zoning carve-out and the RSA 207:59 property-rights carve-out for land a municipality owns and controls. Pre-existing inconsistent ordinances are null and void under paragraph II. Federal law, including 18 U.S.C. 922(g), 922(q), and PLCAA at 15 U.S.C. 7901, applies on top of state law. Carriers may rely on a uniform statewide legal framework.
This page covers one part of our New Hampshire concealed carry guide.
Read the complete New Hampshire guideBrowse local instructors offering state-approved training in your area. Book online, complete your training, and get one step closer to your concealed carry permit.