Dunbarton Rep Criticized for Armed Resistance Comments

A local state representative has come under fire for comments he made during an online podcast suggesting that there may come a time when the citizens of the Granite State have to take up arms against their government, according to the Huffington Post.

State Rep. J.R. Hoell, R-Dunbarton, who represents that town and Bow in the Legislature, made the comments during an interview with GrokTalk, the conservative podcast recorded by the bloggers at Granite Grok, about the potential U.S. Senate candidacy of former Mass. Sen. Scott Brown.

Brown recently sold his house in Wrentham, Mass., and will move to his other home in Rye, leading to speculation he will soon announce a run for Senate here, challenging incumbent U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH.

That political speculation has caught the ire of Republicans and 2nd Amendment advocates like Hoell, the secretary of the NH Firearms Coalition, who are concerned about Brown’s open support of an assault weapons ban and his past political support from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a gun control advocate.

“The message needs to get out that Scott Brown does not represent New Hampshire,” Hoell said, according to a transcription of the interview by progressive blogger William Tucker of Miscellany Blue. “If things continue the way they are, there may be a day or a time where firearms and ammo are necessary. It happened in the Revolutionary War. I'd like to think we're not there yet, but as things continue to unravel, that may be the next step.”

The comments set off a firestorm on liberal blogs and left-leaning news aggregators like Think Progress, which questioned the comments and wondered why sedition charges couldn’t be brought against Hoell for seemingly advocating an armed overthrow of the government.

At the same time, other commenters supportive of Hoell pointed to the Bill of Rights in the New Hampshire state Constitution which has a “Right of Revolution” clause in Article 10: “Government being instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security, of the whole community, and not for the private interest or emolument of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government. The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.” The state Constitution also has a “Bearing of Arms” clause, Article 2-a, which states: “All persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state.”

Gun ownership advocates are staging a protest in Nashua at the annual New Hampshire Republican State Committee on Dec. 19, where Brown is the keynote speaker.

Expecting a Brown campaign against Shaheen, state Democrats attacked Brown’s law firm clients and requested a release of his lobbying connections. State Republicans countered that Shaheen’s husband, Bill Shaheen, a well-known lobbyist and political consultant in the state, should release his lobbying connections too.

Hoell did not return an email request for comment.