CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Gun-friendly New Hampshire is back in the spotlight after a lawmaker dropped a loaded firearm this week in a House hearing on a kindergarten bill.
But lawmakers packing guns on statehouse grounds – and occasionally handling them recklessly – isn’t unique to the “Live Free or Die” state. At least 19 states, from Kansas to Texas to Idaho, allow legislators to carry guns in parts of or the entire capitol. In a handful of others that prohibit it, such as Oklahoma, lawmakers sometimes bypass security measures in order to carry concealed firearms.
“I’ve testified in a number of states where I’ve had legislators show me they were carrying even though they weren’t allowed to do so,” said John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Resource Center, which has gathered info on guns in statehouses.
No violent incidents of lawmakers carrying guns at statehouses have been recorded in recent memory. Carelessness is another matter.
In 2014, Democratic Kentucky Rep. Leslie Combs shot a hole through the floorboards while cleaning her gun in her capitol office. Another lawmaker was present but unhurt.