Hundreds turn out at NH Statehouse to rally for gun rights

nashuatelegraph.com ^ | 31 January, 2012 | JAKE BERRY

[marktwain]

CONCORD – Flags, signs and guns filled the Statehouse steps Thursday afternoon as hundreds of residents from across New Hampshire gathered to rally for gun rights.

In the wake of last month’s shooting in Newtown, Conn., politics have distracted lawmakers at the state and federal level, helping them to forget about individual liberties and constitutional freedoms, speakers and supporters argued throughout the event. But, with the right to bear arms in jeopardy, gun advocates vowed to remind legislators of their responsibility to the Constitution.

“All of us know we are at a crossroads in our country,” event organizer Jack Kimball, former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, told the crowd. “The second amendment is the thing that protects the entire constitution. … Without that, we have nothing.”

Throughout the event, called the “Line in Granite rally,” organizers circulated a petition seeking to demand that state lawmakers adhere to the New Hampshire and federal constitutions by rejecting any further gun control laws.

In the weeks since the Newtown shooting, President Barack Obama has urged lawmakers to renew a ban on military-style assault rifles, among other gun reforms. But rally speakers encouraged legislators in Concord and Washington to reject the ban in favor of the Constitutional rights to self-defense.

“If they take away our gun rights or change them any more, it’s lawlessness,” said Jerry DeLemus, founder of the Rochester 912 Project, a Constitutional rights group.

“They call it public safety,” added former state Rep. Bob Giuda. “I call it national disarmament. … They can’t take away your right to defend yourself or your family.”

[marktwain]

Everyone in the country seems to know we are at a crossroads, except for those who are virtually intentionally unaware.

[bunkerhill7]

Live Free Or Die!

[trebb]

I have a Leftist co-worker who used the recent school bus murder/kidnapping as a reason why we really need gun control. I asked him when we should outlaw the internet and credit cards because so many people abuse them and steal identities, etc. I swear his open mouth almost drooled before he realized that he wasn’t going to come up with a rational response. Another Leftist co-worker is starting to get it and has bought a few weapons and even spread them out among a couple properties to make it harder to confiscate them. He now believes there will be blood in the streets in his lifetime and it has shaken him - he migh even vote non-Dim next time around.