Update 01-04-2019: The House Bans Firearms in Representatives Hall
Photo shot by Marc Nozell, the husband of another state representative, in the House Gallery during the House debate on banning deadly weapons from Representatives Hall at the State House.
On Wednesday January 2, I was part of a majority of members of the New Hampshire House who voted against making every day “take your guns to work day” for state legislators. We also voted to make sexual harassment training mandatory for legislators and staff.
Something that many of us weren’t aware of until after the debate was that several pro-gun supporters were allowed to open-carry firearms into the gallery where children were present. In retrospect, this was especially disturbing given the hostile, confrontational tone set during the debate by GOP legislators who railed against the idea of turning the State House into “a Constitution-free zone”, threatened to disobey the rule should it pass, and generally tried to make the case that legislators and the public are better off in the event of an incident with dozens of people shooting blindly trying to be the “good guy with a gun” rather than leaving their protection up to the professional State House security staff.
While both the U.S. and N.H. constitutions support the rights of citizens to defend themselves with firearms, both documents also support the right to speech free of government intrusion—a right that among other things doesn’t include being able to yell “fire” in a crowded theater, lie under oath, or advocate murdering or physically harming another person. The point is that society and the law, unlike some members of our legislature, generally agree that no right—even a Constitutional right—is 100% absolute.
This is also true of the right to bear arms. While the controversial 2008 Heller decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that confirmed the right of an individual to possess firearms independent of participation in a militia, the Court was careful not to make this right unlimited. “It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues. The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.“
As a public body meeting in a public building, the majority was well within its rights to ban firearms within the Chamber, anterooms, coatrooms, and the gallery.
In addition to the Constitutional argument, it’s also important to consider a little history. Firearms were first formally banned in Representatives Hall in 1971 by the GOP majority (yes, you read that correctly) after a disgruntled representative told another legislator that he was going to shoot the Speaker of the House, Marshall Cobleigh. The representative was stopped by State Police before a tragedy could occur and afterwards members of both parties sensibly agreed firearms had no place in Representatives Hall. This lasted until GOP Speaker Bill O’Brien and a different GOP majority overturned the ban, which was later reinstated by a new Democratic majority, only to be tossed out again by a new Republican majority in 2015.
By reinstating the ban, legislators may not have restored sanity to the State House. But at least parents of children visiting the gallery won’t have to worry as much about dropped Glocks, misfires, and a small room filled with hundreds of would-be firearms ninjas.
As for legislators, now is the time to be focused on legislation and on our constituents. Not on playing out our “good guy with a gun” fantasies—or creating a dangerous work environment for legislators, staff, and the public..
Lots of work still to do. But we’re off on the right track.