Pete Gamble '98, Pro-Gunner

by J. Lawrence Scholer

Many of New Hampshire’s residents still live by the words “Live Free or Die”—the state’s official motto—but slowly they are seeing their freedoms slip away. New Hampshire and Vermont gun owners are fortunate to live in states where the right to bear arms remains relatively unregulated. Yet, many citizens worry that their Second Amendment rights may soon become a thing of the past, mostly due to federal intervention.

“A small amount of pro-gun people have all they need and don’t care about anything else. Most pro-gun people feel that we really don’t actually have much left. They feel the government has gone hog wild, taking away our guns while itself unwilling to prosecute violent criminals,” says Pete Gamble ’98, a resident of Cornish, New Hampshire since 1992 and a current student at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Gamble is familiar with Dartmouth—he matriculated with the Class of 1998, but left after one year. According to Gamble, he left the College because the “wheelchair access [at Dartmouth] isn’t compatible with wheelchairs.” Gamble has been confined to a wheelchair after a April 1989 motor vehicle accident left him paralyzed from the waist down.

Gamble is an outspoken critic of gun control and has served on the Gun Owners of New Hampshire Board of Directors. He once stood for election to the New Hampshire House of Representatives on the Libertarian ticket. He is currently building a business, “The Firing Line,” through which he intends to train individuals to use and care for certain types of guns (including belt machine guns). While Gamble is not directly associated with local militias, he does share many of their views.

“My experience with militias in New Hampshire is pretty positive. Those people are the best, but totally vilified and misunderstood,” Gamble explains. Gamble appeared on television in Boston after the Oklahoma City bombing and later challenged the FBI to defend the militia movement.

Gamble has taught classes for the National Rifle Association, including one for the Bait and Bullet Club at Dartmouth. The NRA is as controversial inside the pro-gun world as it is outside: “Some believe they are our best hope, others believe they are our biggest traitors,” says Gamble. While he concedes that the pro-gun lobby is one of the best organized in the country, he worries that it is too fragmented among specialized groups such as hunters, action shooters, and machine gunners. Gamble, however, points out that his views do not reflect the views of the NRA, and he only represents the organization when he teaches for them.

New Hampshire has very few restrictions on gun ownership. A clause in the state constitution reads, “All persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property, and the state.” There is no waiting period for handguns or long-guns, no required license to purchase, and no required registration of guns. New Hampshire does require a permit to carry a concealed handgun, although the permit is not difficult to obtain. A concealed handgun permit costs $10 and lasts for four years. One receives the permit fourteen days after submitting an application. Vermont requires no such permit. New Hampshire has no state statutes regarding automatic weapons.

Violence in the Workplace

The recent office shooting in Massachusetts has put pro-gunners across New Hampshire on alert.

Gun rights advocates “usually first look at the perpetrator’s history because that is usually an indicator that our justice system has previously failed to deal with this guy, being that he has a history of criminally violent behavior,” says Gamble, who notes that these views are shared by anti-government militias. Gamble mentions that cop killers are rarely committing their first murders when they shoot a police officer.

In the Massachusetts case, however, the killer didn’t have a criminal history, and Gamble places the blame for the killings on the shoulders of the government: “This didn’t start with an employee bringing a gun to work or an employer garnishing wages. The picture I try to paint for you is that of a bureaucratic lawyer in a black robe literally hiding behind the single working mom as he is being shot at by a patriot. It started when judges made precedent-setting decisions to enforce unconstitutional treasury rules and said judges remaining unaccountable by literally hiding behind the accountants and office workers that they legally require to do treasury department work. The accountants that choose to garnish wages become accessories to treason. These people become targets to whom an enraged employee wants to direct his anger, but he can’t identify them as targets, so he lashes out as best he can. If the judge who made the ruling was willing to own up to his decision, be responsible for his decision, and face the consequence of his treason, no ‘innocent’ people would be hurt. By choosing to remain anonymous, these government lawyers hide behind the grunts on the ground, who catch bullets in their place.”

Gamble believes that the accountants and office workers “made a choice, unknowingly, to be part of the problem, not part of the solution.” Gamble comments, “By ignoring that your boss is using you as an accessory to the Treasury Department’s treason, you have ignored that you are an accomplice in their transgressions and are condoning that action. Not to decide is to decide.”

Kids and Guns

Pro-gunners do not simply dismiss gun accidents and realize that accidents are a serious problem. But gun advocates remain concerned with the manner in which the media and many elected officials spin the issue. Former President Bill Clinton once remarked that there are “thirteen firearm fatalities among children every day” and “5,000 every year, one every ninety seconds.”

Not only does the math not add up, but the data are outright fabrications. In 1997, there were, in fact, 142 accidental gun deaths among children ages zero to fourteen—while tragic, it’s a far cry from 5,000.

Gamble notes that a child has a greater chance of getting killed on his bicycle than being shot accidentally by a gun. And he is adamant that the NRA’s effort to keep kids safe from guns far exceeds the steps taken by anti-gunners. The NRA’s Eddie Eagle program is free to schools, but administrations refuse to incorporate the program into school or else discontinue it after a week, Gamble laments. “Like death itself, when reminded of our mortality, we bury it under the rug—ignoring it won’t teach our kids anything positive.”

According to the NRA, the purpose of the Eddie Eagle Program “isn’t to teach whether guns are good or bad, but rather to promote the protection and safety of children.” Eddie Eagle spreads the message of “Stop! Don’t touch. Leave the area. Tell an Adult.”

Since half the homes in the United States have guns, Eddie Eagle treats guns like other household hazards such as poisons or electricity.

The NRA also offers instruction for older students.

Right and Wrong

Gamble and other pro-gunners feel betrayed by “a society in which wrong is portrayed as right and right is portrayed as wrong.” Pro-gunners respect an individual’s sovereignty, and they don’t trust the federal government to make and individual’s decisions, says Gamble. “At least I still know the difference between right and wrong, unlike most bureaucrats—especially cops who take an oath to protect and defend our Constitution in one breath and betray it with the next.”