Sandown gun ban is short-lived

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May 7, 2011

By Doug Ireland direland@eagletribune.com The Eagle Tribune Sat May 07, 2011, 12:14 AM EDT

SANDOWN — Packing a pistol may be fine if you're visiting New Hampshire's Statehouse, but is it OK at Town Hall?

Sandown selectmen didn't think so — at least not for a two-week period recently when they banned firearms from town buildings.

This week, they rescinded the unanimous decision after an attorney challenged the move.

It started about a month ago when a resident walked into Town Hall with a handgun stuck in her belt. A town employee became concerned, even though the woman was there only to register a car.

"She had a weapon on her, and people just didn't think it was right," Selectman James Devine said yesterday.

Devine and Selectman Brenda Copp said selectmen were just trying to do the right thing when they reinstated an old ordinance that allowed only law enforcement officers to carry a weapon in town buildings.

"We know people are allowed to carry guns in New Hampshire because that's the law," Copp said.

The question is whether they should be allowed in town buildings, especially Town Hall, she said.

Copp said selectmen have no problem with the Second Amendment right to bear arms, but there was concern the gun wasn't properly kept in a holster.

"We weren't just trying to stop gun-carrying here," she said. "We want to make sure common sense is used."

But selectmen soon reconsidered their decision when Concord attorney Penny Dean sent them a letter, saying the board violated state law and she would take legal action, if necessary, to protect the public's right to self-defense.

"The bottom line is they are violating state law and we all have to follow state law," Dean said yesterday. "That just puzzles me that they think this is right."

The gun-rights advocate said she was contacted by Sandown residents concerned about the ban. She wouldn't say how many people contacted her.

Dean said she is glad selectmen rescinded their decision, but they never should have adopted the ban in the first place.

"My larger issue is that I'm really disappointed in them," she said. "I'm disappointed they would consider such an ordinance."

Copp said when the gun-carrying woman walked into Town Hall about a month ago, selectmen were reviewing the town's personnel policy and realized it didn't cover whether employees could carry guns.

"There were a lot of concerns that it wasn't as clear as it should have been," Copp said. "(Guns) didn't seem to be mentioned."

Selectmen figured the ban would clarify the issue, but didn't expect it to become controversial. No one opposed the proposal at selectmen's meetings, Copp said.

"To be honest with you, I don't think we will be strapping on sidearms like in the old West," Devine said.

Devine is a Republican state representative who found himself in the middle of a similar controversy when the right to bear arms recently became an issue at the Statehouse. The GOP-dominated Legislature overturned a ban, enacted just last year, to prohibit weapons in the building.

The town contacted the New Hampshire Local Government Center for advice before and after the ban was adopted, Devine said. No one from the center was available for comment on the issue yesterday.

Dean said the center is traditionally "anti-gun" and that it's not right to ban guns in violation of the Second Amendment.

"The bottom line is we have jails for people who misbehave," Dean said. "Why should we punish law-abiding citizens?"

Board members voted unanimously Monday to drop the ban.

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