New Hampshire House Speaker Shawn Jasper (courtesy politics.concordmonitor.com)

“The New Hampshire House put the U.S. Secret Service on notice,” blogs.wsj.com reports. “State representatives won’t surrender their guns when presidential candidates visit. So far, Mr. Jasper hasn’t secured commitments from contenders with protection from the Secret Service, which doesn’t allow guns at campaign rallies except those carried by authorized law-enforcement. But . . .

Mr. Jasper said he pre-emptively let the agency know that House members don’t plan to abandon a rule that lets them carry concealed guns on the House floor.”

Aside from New Hampshire’s Live Free or Die tradition, there’s history here:

Mr. Jasper said Friday that he wanted to prevent any scenario where House members could be searched or “wanded” by the Secret Service on their way to their seats.

Republicans already were irked by photos in November showing the Secret Service giving New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner the once-over with a security wand ahead of Democrat Hillary Clinton’s arrival to file candidacy papers, he said.

“I realized we could have a real debacle on our hands so I figured the best thing to do would be to reach out to the Secret Service,” he said.

Asked to respond to Mr. Jasper’s message, Robert Hoback, a spokesman for the Secret Service, reiterated the policy against guns at events.

While the WSJ reckons there’s no showdown in the offing, NH Republican House Speaker Shawn Jasper’s shot across the Secret Service’s bow is a victory for pro-gun rights advocates everywhere. Except those who aren’t elected politicians. And maybe even them, too.

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35 COMMENTS

  2. If your a (D)emocrat and you shoot a republican President, you can get supervised travel home from cushy prison, and can request unsupervised visits. If you arr a representative of your consituents, you can’t protect yourself when POS (D)heads show up in your state asking to be made president.

  3. Expected Secret Service response to New Hampshire Republican House Speaker:
    — “Sit down and shut up plebe. Now, go to the back of the bus!”

    Alternate possible response from the Secret Service to New Hampshire Republican House Speaker:
    — You are welcome to demand that our boss at the White House change the policy. You can him toll free at 1 (800) EAT-SH!T.

    • How about the NH rep, when told to surrender, says no.

      Secret service bars entrance or attempts to detain and arrest.

      Rep, knowing that this will be happening has a state police unit standing bye. And has the entire secret service unit arrested enmass.

      That would be fun little thing to see.

      • Is there a GoFundMe for that? I don’t know what they’d need one for, but that seems to be the “thing” now.

  5. Interesting note, any times the majority switches sides, concealed carry in the state house is bill #1 up for vote.

  6. It’s real simple. Disinvite the candidates. Ban them from the state, the SS too. Really, who wants to listen to any more campaign lies? Can we skip the BS and vote now?

  7. Republicans already were irked by photos in November showing the Secret Service giving New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner the once-over with a security wand ahead of Democrat Hillary Clinton’s arrival to file candidacy papers, he said.

    They already got their image, showing who’s got power over whom.

    They won’t back down on the “policy” because they want more images – nothing to do with security. And they figure they can spin the media.

    Also, “Republicans were irked?” Who wrote that? How about: “Elected representatives were annoyed at being treated like criminals in their own legislative hall by a candidate, not yet even nominated, let alone elected, who was BTW offered the opportunity to address them.” elaborating Speaker Gavel said: “Well, we’ll consider letting the Secret Service wand who they want, assuming they and the candidate will show like accommodation to our security procedures. Of course, they are free to decline our offer to hear them. If they only want to talk to people they dominate with firepower (Kind of like Times’ Square this New Years) that’s their option.”

    Seriously, good for standing their ground, but who the hell is running their media op?

  8. We used to make jokes about the queen coming here and pushing us around if we layed down our guns…

  9. Seems easy enough to me.

    “We’re going to be carrying our firearms here… if your candidate wants to come and talk to us – and get the TV coverage they so desperately need – that’s just how it’s going to be. If that doesn’t work for your candidate, fine, there’s always South Carolina.”

    • ^^^ X2

      As a former classmate of Mr. Jasper and his family, and NH resident; I wholeheartedly agree with him!

      Now, that being said; what about the “hunting with suppressors” bill: NH HB-500?????

    • I’m no fan of The Donald, but I’d like to see him show up for a speech there and open carry his pistol. That would be awesome.

  10. And you think I am crazy predicting about a possible “inside job” on the President ? You know they fear it.

  11. Hillary wants to have everyone wanded and disarmed just as much as Obama. It would be nice to have Republicans stand their ground on this – particularly against Hillary – but I seriously doubt they have the balls to do so.

  12. If Hilary really believes that no one should be allowed the right of self-defense, she needs to prove it by rejecting armed security – Secret Service, police, etc. To do anything else sends a clear message that the sole purpose of her gun control agenda is to gain dominion over the American people.

    • Hillary believes that she is important enough to be protected by armed men 24 / 7 / 365. At taxpayer expense. And she believes that we must be disarmed and call 911.

  13. Isn’t there some law, at least in regard to the President, that basically allows the Secret Service to declare aprohibited zone wherever he is? In other words, treating wherever POTUS is located like a federal facility that bans weapons. If so, is it written so that it applies to anyone the Secret Service protects? Didn’t the Secret Service established a weapons-free zone around the Papal parade route?

    • I watched the secret service break into a woman’s apartment and pull her from an open window that overlooked a presidential parade route. She refused to close and move away from the window.

      My suspicion is that when push comes to shove, they push constitutional protections under the bus and let attorneys deal with the legal fallout.

      One time I was flying into Martha’s Vineyard to participate in a shooting match. The SS had created an ADIZ around the island because the Obummers were there. We had to land at Plymouth (PYM) to speak to SS and be searched before we were allowed onto the island.

      A SS agent asked me what was in the bag. I told him I had guns and ammo in the bag. I brought a print out of the match web page. After pushing it up the chain of command they let me get back in my plane and fly to MV.

      It was absurd. They were trying to secure a whole island.

      Don

    • When you describe a “weapons free zone” around the prez, can we assume that means the SS agents are masters of Tae Kwan Do? And unarmed?

  14. I recall comedian Amy Poehler recounting that the SS wouldn’t allow them even to use fake guns in a 2008 SNL skit in which Palin participated. They had to use finger guns, instead.

    The whole thing is silly, anyway. Candidates regularly wade into crowds to shake hands and kiss babies. There’s no way the secret service can stop a determined attacker.

    • It’s CYA on the part of the Secret Service. They know it’s impossible to stop a determined attack, but they also don’t want to look like dummies who knowingly allowed weapons inside “the bubble”.

      • I guess you have not followed the recent history of the Secret Service, Looking like dummies would be an improvement.

  15. That guy’s a pussy. If he was for real, he’d force the Secret Disservice agents to disarm. For the sake of hookers everywhere.

  16. The SS has no legal authority. The best they can do is create a showdown where the candidates choose not to attend events with the NH legislature unless the legislature agrees to disarm.

    I’m guessing that neither side backs down and some candidates abstain.

    Don

  18. So the Secret Service refused to allow the New Hampshire Secretary of State into his office without screening. The Secret Service has authority to do this under 18 U.S.C. § 1752

    The Secret Service can bar a person from entry, but cannot mandate that they enter. So I imagine the conversation could (should) have gone something like this:

    “I refuse to be disarmed in my own workspace, and I will not require my staff to do so. Therefore, we will be closing our offices for the day. As a result, Mrs. Clinton will not make it onto the New Hampshire ballot. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

    • Reading 18 U.S.C. § 1752, it appears that the SS does not actually have the authority to restrict a state government employee from entering their own workplace, since they would not be violating any of the 4 provisions of part a.
      In fact, one may even be able to justify a charge against the SS agents if they tried to prevent someone from entering such a Government building, since they would be in violation of a) 3) knowingly, and with the intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, obstructs or impedes ingress or egress to or from any restricted building or grounds.
      But, then, you know, I was reading it as a law, as opposed to a tyranny device to be utilized only to keep the lessers in check.

  19. There’s nothing secret about them, and if they’re a service, I’d really really really hate to see a DIS-service!

  20. How does the SS create a gun free zone? Wasn’t there a guy open carrying near Obama in NH once that was all over the news?

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