Throwback Thursday: Guns in the State House
The New Hampshire House rule prohibiting guns in House chambers, which the incoming rules committee has rejected, dates back to 1971. It was first adopted following an armed confrontation between Republican House Speaker Marshall Cobleigh and Rep. Charles “Cap” Gay (R-Derry) over Gay’s seating assignment.
Cobleigh described the incident in his 2005 memoir, “We Ain’t Making Sausage Here,” which Jennifer Keefe passed along in a New Hampshire Magazine story:
“The person most upset at me for the tactic of rewarding my friends and remembering my enemies was a World War I veteran who was a heavy drinker. He had a prized aisle seat in the New Hampshire Legislature. I took his back-row aisle seat away from him because he had opposed my Speaker candidacy. The man showed up in the legislature with a gun one day - a pistol. Minority Leader Bill Craig came down to the podium and said, ‘I don’t want to alarm you, Marshall, but Cap Gay’s in the back of the hall with a pistol. He says he’s going to shoot you.’”
After consulting with the state Attorney General and the Governor’s office, Cobleigh confirmed there was no regulation prohibiting firearms in the State House, wrote Keefe. On January 13, 1971, the House adopted Rule 61:
No person, including members of the House, except law enforcement officers while actively engaged in carrying out their duties as such, shall carry or have in his possession any firearm while lie is in the House Chamber, anterooms, cloakrooms, or any portion of the State House adjacent to any of the above.
Any person in violation of this rule shall be subject to ejection from any such premises on the order of the Speaker and disciplinary action and arrest or both by action of the House.“
Over the last four decades, the ban has been expanded, repealed, reinstated and is now about to be repealed again. Ironically, having won back the right to carry firearms in House chambers, Bill O'Brien loyalists are now accusing Speaker Shawn Jasper of vindictiveness in handing out seating assignments.
"Shame Ask the Democrat Appointed Speaker why senior Reps did not get the committee they requested? I got mine!” tweeted Rep. Al Baldasaro (R-Londonderry).
“[L]ook for a continuance of such vindictiveness with soon to be released seating assignments,” added Rep. Dan Tamburello (R-Londonderry).
