The state motto for New Hampshire is one that has always spoken to me. “Live Free or Die,” just kind of lays everything out there for you, doesn’t it?

For a long time, that motto also reflected the attitude of many of the residents. They wanted the government to leave them alone. It’s why they were one of the first constitutional carry states in the nation.

However, that status is fading away.

Recently, the governor vetoed a bill that would have been just one more nail into the coffin of freedom there.

As expected, Gov. Chris Sununu on Friday vetoed a bill establishing extreme protective orders intended to reduce suicides and mass killings.

House Bill 687, commonly known as the “red flag” bill, would have established a civil procedure to remove firearms and ammunition from someone who is at risk of harming him or herself or others. The bill would have established extreme risk protection orders through a civil process initiated by a person’s family, housemates or law enforcement.

The legislation is similar to laws in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Opponents say the bill would trample on the constitutional rights of individuals on hearsay evidence without due process, particularly gun rights.

In his veto message, Sununu said he has signed legislation to bring awareness to suicide prevention and has worked to improve the state’s mental health system but cannot approve a bill that would strip residents of their constitutional rights.

“Unfortunately, the process laid out in House Bill 687 goes too far and would weaken the constitutional rights of law-abiding New Hampshire citizens,” Sununu said. The bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, said the bill is needed now more than ever due to the coronavirus pandemic with more people in mental health crisis and the significant increase in gun sales.

Sununu was right to veto the bill.

It wasn’t all that long ago that such a bill would never have sprung up in the first place. Not in New Hampshire, at least.

Unfortunately, people from nearby Massachusetts have flocked to the state trying to escape higher taxes, then immediately began trying to make the state just like the hellhole they fled from–the official term for such people appears to be “Massholes,” a species related to the “Californicators” that inflict many other states, such as Texas–including pushes for gun control.

Altschiller, who authored the bill, can claim this is about mental health, but as we’ve already seen, gun control isn’t really the answer to suicide. Other methods are damn near as effective as a firearm, meaning it’s better to address mental health directly rather than pretend gun control is the answer. Unless, of course, you don’t give a damn about mental health.

The truth is, there are other ways to deal with suicidal individuals. Taking their guns and pretending you’ve done all you need to do isn’t going to change anything except allow people to feel warm and tingly without having to actually do anything useful. That’s about par for the course for anti-gun politicians, to be sure, but it’s beyond stupid otherwise.