CONCORD — A New Hampshire House committee hearing on a firearms-related bill took a bitter turn Wednesday after activists in the crowd appeared with signs comparing New Hampshire Democrats to Nazis.

HB 687 would establish an extreme risk protection order, allowing family members of those deemed a risk to themselves or others to seek temporary confiscation of firearms ahead of court proceeding — sometimes known as a “red flag law.” Members of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee took up the bill for a vote Wednesday morning, ultimately deadlocking on whether to recommend it to the full House, 10-10.

But as members deliberated, a half-dozen gun-rights advocates in the packed hearing room brandished posters featuring a photo array of Democratic state senators and representatives pictured next to a series of red flags, including the Nazi flag with a swastika, prompting an eventual rebuke by the committee’s chairman.

The posters, produced by the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition, depicted the heads of 11 Democratic lawmakers on top of a cartoon representation of the flags of several authoritarian regimes in red, including the former Soviet Union, China and Nazi Germany.

That Nazi military flag used in World War II depicted a swastika in a circle and surrounded by a cross. In Soviet-style text adorning the image, the poster read: “There’s no law quite like a red flag law!”

Over the cartoon flags were floating headshots of Sens. David Watters, of Dover; Jay Kahn, of Keene; Jeanne Dietsch, of Peterborough; Martha Hennessey, of Hanover; and Tom Sherman, of Rye, as well as Reps. Bob Backus, of Manchester; Debra Altschiller, of Stratham; Donovan Fenton, of Keene; Manny Espitia, of Nashua; and Mary Jane Mulligan, of Hanover. Each of the Democrats is a sponsor of the legislation.

Some of the members on the poster condemned the picture.

“To imply any relationship of my views on gun safety with the meaning of these flags that represent racist, fascist, Communist nations is revolting,” Kahn said.

Mulligan, who attended the committee meeting, said she had tried during the proceedings to get the signs removed by building security but was told it was up to the chairman.

“I was stunned that they were allowed to stay in there,” she said.

But Kurt Beswick, vice president of the Firearms Coalition who appeared at the hearing with the poster, said he did not consider it inappropriate.

“When you look at the history of gun control, it starts with the Nazis, the Communists, the socialists, and every other dictatorial form of government starting with confiscation of weapons,” he said outside the hearing room. “This is why all pro-firearms groups are so ‘anti’ any of these confiscation bills. It starts as a very simple, nice thing to do and it rolls downhill from there.”

The posters didn’t sit well with advocates from Moms Demand Action, a pro-gun-control group, and others amid a tense debate ahead of the vote. After the vote, committee Chairman Renny Cushing, a Hampton Democrat, said he hadn’t seen them until the hearing had closed.

“Had I seen it, that would violate every piece of decorum and I think it’s not appropriate to have in this chamber,” he said, adding that he would have removed the posters.

HB 687 would establish a streamlined procedure to request a court order to allow firearms to be temporarily removed from the home for up to 12 months — without needing to notify the person ahead of time. The process would begin a court process by which the respondent could prove that they don’t pose a danger to themselves or others.

Republicans on the committee argued it impinges on Second Amendment rights by depriving citizens of firearms without sufficient recourse. Democrats, meanwhile, say it would provide a mechanism for concerned family members to take away a deadly weapon at a time of critical need — addressing potential suicides, domestic violence murders and mass shootings. After deadlocking, the Criminal Justice Committee will move the bill to the House floor in January without a recommendation.

The Criminal Justice committee tied 10-10 on whether to recommend passing the bill, after two Democrats, Reps. Andrew O’Hearne, who represents Claremont Ward 1, and John Bordenet, D-Keene, sided with Republicans to oppose recommending it. A subsequent motion to recommend killing the bill also fell, 9-11, forcing the committee to move the bill to the House floor in January without a recommendation.