<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON \u2014 A firearms-toting congresswoman-elect who owns a gun-themed restaurant in Rifle, Colorado, has already asked Capitol Police about carrying her weapon on Capitol grounds, her office has acknowledged. If she does so, she apparently won\u2019t be alone.<\/p>\n
The practice is allowed for lawmakers, with some limitations, under decades-old congressional regulations. The public is barred from carrying weapons in the Capitol, its grounds and office buildings.<\/p>\n
Republican Lauren Boebert, 33, was elected this month from a conservative western Colorado district after gaining notice as a brash pro-gun activist who straps a Glock pistol to her hip. In an upset last June, she defeated five-term Rep. Scott Tipton for the GOP nomination, in part by claiming he wasn\u2019t an ardent enough backer of President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
Boebert asked Capitol Police officials about carrying her weapon when she and other House freshmen taking office in January were in town recently for orientation programs, according to two congressional officials. Both people \u2014 a Democrat and a Republican \u2014 spoke on condition of anonymity to describe her request.<\/p>\n
Aides to Boebert, who Trump endorsed as \u201ca fighter\u201d who will \u201cnever bow down to the establishment in Congress,\u201d did not make her available for an interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a private discussion and inquiry about what the rules are, and as a result the Congresswoman-Elect won\u2019t be going on the record,\u201d Boebert aide Laura Carno said in an email last week.<\/p>\n
The inquiries by Boebert, who runs Shooters Grill, come as guns remain a passionate issue for both parties, fueled by images of demonstrations by armed Trump supporters, conservative pushes to ease state gun restrictions and recent years\u2019 mass shootings.<\/p>\n
Even so, prospects for significantly changing federal gun laws seem scant as a new, narrowly divided Congress takes office in January alongside President-elect Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
Capitol Police spokeswoman Eva Malecki did not respond to a reporter\u2019s questions about the department\u2019s communications with Boebert and the number of lawmakers who carry firearms.<\/p>\n
The agency\u2019s officials did not answer directly when Democrats on the House Committee on Administration asked in 2018 how many lawmakers carry firearms in the Capitol. The officials said in a written response that they\u2019ve \u201cbeen made aware\u201d of inquiries about carrying weapons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no standing requirement\u201d that lawmakers notify them when they carry a firearm in the Capitol, the officials wrote. Regulations require safe storage of weapons, but \u201cthat responsibility resides with the Member,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
A 1967 regulation says no federal or District of Columbia laws restricting firearms \u201cshall prohibit any Member of Congress from maintaining firearms within the confines of his office\u201d or \u201cfrom transporting within Capitol grounds firearms unloaded and securely wrapped.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawmakers may not bring weapons into the House chamber and other nearby areas, the regulations say, according to a letter Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., wrote in 2018. Aides can carry lawmakers\u2019 weapons for them on the Capitol complex, he wrote.<\/p>\n
In his letter to House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving, Huffman summarized the regulations after being briefed on them by Irving. An opponent of letting members of Congress carry guns on Capitol grounds, Huffman abandoned a 2018 effort to halt the practice due to colleagues\u2019 strong opposition and said in an interview that he wouldn\u2019t try again this year due to continued resistance.<\/p>\n
Huffman said the loophole for lawmakers, adopted after a summer of racial unrest in American cities, is outdated and risky.<\/p>\n
He said members and their staffs carry firearms around the Capitol \u201call the time,\u201d though he mentioned no names. He said lawmakers keep guns in their publicly accessible offices, though building entry has been limited due to COVID-19.<\/p>\n
\u201cMembers could have a loaded AK47 sitting on their desk and no one would ever do anything about it,\u201d Huffman said.<\/p>\n
He also said with lawmakers exempted from passing through screening devices throughout the Capitol campus, \u201cno one checks\u201d to make sure they\u2019re not bringing guns onto the House floor.<\/p>\n
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., chairman of the House Second Amendment Caucus, justified letting lawmakers carry weapons. He cited the 2017 shooting spree when a gunman wounded Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., and four other people as they practiced baseball in nearby Alexandria, Virginia.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as you leave the Capitol property, you are a target,\u201d Massie said.<\/p>\n
Also supporting Boebert is Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., like Boebert a hard-right conservative with a penchant for attracting publicity. Greene like Boebert has expressed support for QAnon conspiracy theories, though both have tried distancing themselves from the unfounded beliefs.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only do I support members of Congress carrying a firearm, I believe every American has that right.\u201d Greene said in a statement. \u201cI will work every day to end ALL gun free zones.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police periodically arrest people caught trying to bring firearms into the Capitol and its buildings.<\/p>\n
In 1999, Corey Lewandowski \u2014 then a congressional aide and later a manager of Trump\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign \u2014 was arrested when what court records called a loaded pistol was found in a laundry bag he was bringing into a House office building. Misdemeanor charges were dismissed.<\/p>\n
The Capitol Police protect the complex with over 2,300 officers and civilian employees, according to its website. Its officers routinely arrest people caught trying to carry weapons at the Capitol.<\/p>\n
The regulations letting lawmakers carry guns was written by the Capitol Police Board, which consists of four of Congress\u2019 top law enforcement and administrative officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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