Gun rally draws nearly 300 to State House

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Caleb Spencer knows people make assumptions when they see his semiautomatic rifle slung across his chest. Those assumptions, he said, are threatening every American’s constitutional right to bear arms.

“I think the perception of gun owners is shown in a negative light,” said Spencer, 35, of Newmarket, at a gun-rights rally outside the State House yesterday. “We are citizens like everyone else. We aren’t big scary people. The Constitution applies to everyone and is non-negotiable.”

Yesterday’s rally drew nearly 300 people, many of whom signed a petition calling on state leaders to reject any efforts by the federal government to restrict their rights to own guns. The signed petitions are headed to the governor’s office and both chambers of the Legislature with a warning that a vote against gun rights could cost them their elected office.

“People talk about a line in the sand,” Jerry DeLemus of Rochester told the crowd. He organized the rally with Jack Kimball, former head of the state Republican party. “A line in the sand is easily moved. The line in New Hampshire needs to be cut in the granite where it will not be moved.”

By the time DeLemus started quoting from the Constitution, the crowd was with him, word for word. “Our right to bear arms shall not be infringed,” they chanted together. That, DeLemus added, means the government cannot restrict the sale of particular guns, large-capacity magazines or certain kinds of ammunition.

DeLemus wanted something else clear too: This right “is not about deer hunting,” he said. “It is about defending the republic from tyranny. We are a republic, not a democracy.”

As he spoke, the crowd waved American flags and pumped homemade signs into the air. “Criminals prefer unarmed victims,” one read. “Dictators prefer unarmed citizens.”

Standing in the back, in sunglasses and a baseball cap, Spencer agreed. He has a ready answer when asked why he needs a semiautomatic rifle, the same kind as one used in the Connecticut shooting.

“I want this rifle,” he said. “I don’t need this rifle anymore than someone needs a car that goes 100 mph.” He uses it for target shooting and home defense, he said.

Jim Whittemore of Pelham arrived at the State House with something less modern: a muzzleloader – with an American flag waving from the barrel. He’s 56 and has never felt his gun rights more threatened than they are now, he said.

“I’ve been a Second Amendment supporter for a long time,” he said. “This country is trying to use (the Connecticut shooting) to ram new laws through, and I think that’s a very dangerous thing. We don’t even know the majority of the facts of what happened (in that shooting) and we are trying to pass new laws.”

Andy, a 25-year-old who didn’t want to give his last name, traveled to Concord from the Lakes Region for yesterday’s rally. He’s served two tours with the Air Force, the last in Afghanistan, with the military police. He had a Smith & Wesson M&P semiautomatic pistol on his hip yesterday.

He usually carries it concealed.

“I think there are a lot of responsible people out there (who carry guns), and a gun can help people,” he said. “I believe that an armed society is a polite society.”

He moved from Connecticut to New Hampshire because he liked the acceptance here of gun ownership. He had a license to carry in Connecticut but found the sight of a gun so upset people, he’d get hassled by the police, he said.

He fears the whole country is headed in that direction since the Connecticut school shooting. “They are targeting the wrong people,” he said of efforts to restrict gun ownership. “They are targeting the people who follow the rules.”

Andy said he supports background checks for anyone buying a gun and would even consider them for private sales, which don’t require a background check in New Hampshire. But neither he nor the others at the State House yesterday were willing to go any further.

“You can’t carry a cop on your hip,” Andy said. “The typical response time (for the police) is five minutes, and that is good.”

It’s just not fast enough, he said.

(Annmarie Timmins can be reached at 369-3323,
atimmins@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @annmarietimmins.)