Why are Republicans so fearful of their fellow representatives that they feel the need to arm themselves in the NH State House Chamber? Our legislature is a deliberative body. It should be a bastion of civil discourse and responsible government, not the wild west of an armed camp.

Yet on the first meeting day of the 2023 session, Republicans in the New Hampshire House voted down a Democratic priority: banning firearms from the House Chamber. That sensible rule was in place for many, many years until 2011, when Republicans first removed it. Since then, the ban was reinstated while Democrats controlled the House, but struck down again with Republicans in control.

Allowing anyone to bring a gun into the State House Chamber doesn’t make me feel safe. Just the opposite, it feels like a tragedy waiting to happen when some discontented hothead reaches for their weapon instead of their words.

My congratulations to my Bedford Representatives Loren Foxx and Catherine Rombeau along with the other 175 state legislators who had the common sense to vote to reinstate the State House firearms ban. We need more representatives like them.