Lawmakers up in arms over fairgrounds gun ban
Gun rights activists are complaining that many of the state’s agricultural fairs and expositions prohibit firearms on the fairgrounds. Some of them have called for a boycott of the 11 fairs sponsored by the New Hampshire Association of Fairs & Expositions, which they say bans guns at all of its locations.
Those events, which are held on private property, include the Belknap County 4-H Fair, Cheshire Fair, Cornish Fair, Deerfield Fair, Hillsborough County Agricultural Fair, Hopkinton State Fair, Lancaster Fair, North Haverhill Fair, Stratham Fair, Rochester Fair and Sandwich Fair.
Some of the venues, including the Belknap County, North Haverhill and Stratham fairs, list the gun prohibition in the Rules and Regulations posted on their websites. The protesters say police at the other fairs also enforce a ban whether or not signs prohibiting firearms are displayed at the entrance.
The activists blame association president, and former state representative, Fran Wendelboe, notwithstanding her conviction that “an armed America of law-abiding citizens is a safer America.”
When he learned of the prohibition, state Rep. Ed Comeau (R-Brookfield) was incredulous. “This is nutty! What is attached to my privates is my private property,” he declared. “What she wants to enforce is: no unlawful behavior will be tolerated! What planet am I on?”
Rep. John Burt (R-Goffstown) responded by saying he will ignore the ban. ”I will just go in where there is no Gun Free Zone sign and I should be all set,” he wrote. “I would guess they are not strip searching everyone.”