Group Rallies for Obama's Gun Safety Plan

Several members of the Project for Safer Communities N.H. held a vigil in Market Square on Thursday night to lend their support to President Obama's gun safety plan that Congress is expected to take up next week.

The hour long vigil kicked off at 5;30 p.m. and the group's members were greeted by many passing motorists who honked their horns in approval as they traveled through Market Square.

Michael Donovan of Rye held a sign calling for universal background checks that, if approved, would force gun show events to conduct more extensive checks. In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn., in December, Donovan and several other Portsmouth area residents believe the time is now for Congress to approve that measure.

"You have to start somewhere," he said. Donovan added the universal background checks could keep more guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.

Gail Colozzi of Salem, a member of the Moms Demand Action, New Hampshire chapter, of Salem said her group is not against gun ownership, but does favor universal background checks to ensure safety. "The American people deserve commonsense."

Max Tibbetts of Lee made sure he was also present during the vigil to give the Second amendment some exposure. He held a sign that read, "Second Amendment My Inalienable Right!"

Tibbetts, an Air Force veteran who now serves in the New Hampshire National Guard, said he, too, supports more background checks, but not at the federal level. "I would support universal background checks, but it should be up to the states to decide," he said.