By Ted Siefer
MANCHESTER, N.H. (Reuters) - Concealed guns will again be allowed in the main chamber of the New Hampshire State House, after lawmakers voted on Wednesday to overturn a ban put in place two years earlier.
The vote was one of the first actions taken by the state's House of Representatives after a new Republican-majority group of legislators was sworn in this week.
Republicans and Democrats have jousted over the weapons policy over the past four years, as control of the House shifted from one party to the other.
The 228-149 vote was largely along party lines.
Supporters of the policy argued it would make the chamber safer from would-be attackers.
Fred Rice, a Republican who voted for the measure, said it was intended to protect representatives' "right to self-defense."
There have been no recent incidents of shooting in the New Hampshire statehouse in Concord, though lawmakers in the Canadian parliament building in Ottawa had to hide in meeting rooms in October when a man carrying a hunting rifle charged into the building after killing a soldier standing a ceremonial guard. The gunman was shot dead by security.
New Hampshire Democrats in both chambers assailed the vote, particularly the decision to make it one of the first of the legislative session.
"House Republicans have again decided to listen to the call of partisan, ideological voices and focus on an issue that the people of New Hampshire do not want us to focus on," said Senator Jeff Woodburn, the Democrat minority leader, in a statement.