A member of the New Hampshire House's criminal justice committee dropped a pistol on the floor of the legislative office building at a hearing on a controversial bill dealing with abortion.
Kyle Tasker, a Northwood Republican, dropped the loaded gun, one of two .45 caliber pistols he wears in shoulder holsters, as he took his seat in a crowded hearing room.
“I just gave blood and I might not have latched it quite properly. All I could think of was, it was bound to happen one of these days, I come here too often for that not to have happened.”
This isn’t Representative Tasker’s first gun-related controversy since joining the legislature. Last year, in a Facebook discussion of a deadly force bill, Tasker wrote: “If I’ve been trained to respond (to deadly force) with force, am I justified in blowing a cop away because I’m quicker on the draw, and he already pointed his firearm at me?” At the time, Tasker defended his comments as an “intellectual discussion” and not something he advocates. Carrying a firearm is permitted at the statehouse complex because the Republican legislature lifted a ban last year.
