A group of Liberal Democrats are urging House leaders in both parties to ban lawmakers from carrying weapons on Capitol Hill.
While members of the public are prohibited from carrying weapons of any kind on the Capitol, a decades-old ordinance allows lawmakers to carry firearms in most parts of the Capitol complex.
At least twenty-one Democratic arms reformers hope to reverse that exemption.
In a letter sent to Speaker on Tuesday Nancy Pelosi
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Kevin Owen McCarthy Congress Approaches COVID-19 Aid, Funding Deal Democratic Leaders Under Pressure to Agree to Slimmed COVID-19 Aid Deal Progressive Actions Are Raising Calls for More Unemployment Insurance and Direct Payments to MORE (R-Calif.), The liberals argued that instead of bolstering security around Capitol Hill, lawmakers with weapons endanger the safety of everyone there, especially as Capitol Police are in the dark about who is armed and who not.
Behind Rep. Jared Huffman
Jared William HuffmanBipartisan Senators Introduce Bill to Preserve Trees as Climate Solution Biden Elects Democrats with Thinnest House Majority in Modern History OVERNIGHT ENERGY: EPA Refuses to Tighten Key Air Pollution Standards | Despite risks to polar bears, Trump continues oil exploration in Arctic | Biden calls for climate action by 2021 MORE (D-Calif.), Democrats are urging party leaders to pass a rule change banning firearms for lawmakers and the public at the next Congress.
“Ultimately, current regulations pose unnecessary risks to members of Congress, their staff, members of the Capitol Police and visitors to the Capitol,” lawmakers wrote to Pelosi and McCarthy.
The letter was endorsed by other leading Congressional arms reformers, including Reps. Mike Quigley
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Robin Lynne Kelly House Democrats Select Aguilar as No. 6 Leader in Next Congress Legislators Urge Improved Diabetes Care Through Technological Advances Senate Approves Bill to Secure Internet-Connected Devices from Cyber Vulnerabilities MORE (D-Ill.), Representing Chicago, where gun violence has spiked in recent years, and Rep. Jackie Speier
Karen (Jackie) Lorraine Jacqueline Speier The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – Congress Tries To Prevent Shutdown As Virus Talks Crash Again LAKE (D-Calif.), Who was shot and wounded as a staff member during the 1978 convention trip to the cult site of Jonestown in Guyana. Former Rep. Leo Ryan (D-Calif.) And four others were killed in that shooting.
The idea has been well received by Pelosi, who has long pushed for tougher federal gun laws and pledges to move legislation expanding background checks as a top Democratic priority in the next Congress.
However, for McCarthy and other Republican opponents of gun reform, the change is likely to be a non-starter, causing a partisan clash on the Second Amendment even before the President-elect Joe Biden
Joe BidenDeVos urges education department staff to ‘resist’ when Biden takes office LGBTQ groups celebrate Buttigieg pick for Transportation secretary Biden administration needs two-pronged solutions for older Americans, lawmakers say MORE, another advocate for arms reform, will take office next month.
It’s unclear how many lawmakers are currently taking advantage of their right to bear arms on Capitol Hill – an obscure carve passed by the Capitol Police Board in 1967 after Congress passed a Capitol ban on firearms for the wider public.
The matter received new attention last month when reports surfaced that Lauren Boebert, a 33-year-old Colorado Republican recently elected to the House, had approached Capitol Police during a new member’s orientation to overhaul Capitol Hill’s firearms policy. collect.
Boebert, who often carries a gun on her hip, had made gun rights activism a central part of her successful campaign, in which she overthrew the 10-year-old Republican Rep. Scott Tipton
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Huffman and the Democratic Reformers have expressed several specific concerns about allowing guns around the Capitol. For starters, they write, there are no house guidelines designed to ensure the safe storage of firearms, in members’ offices or anywhere else in the complex.
“[A]You know, members’ offices are open to staff, visitors and the general public, and a firearm that is not secured can easily end up in the wrong hands, ”the letter reads.
Lawmakers also express concern that while the House Sergeant at Arms would inform newly elected members of the Capitol’s gun rules, more experienced members have never received the same instructions.
“[M]”Most returning members are unlikely to be aware of any regulations regarding firearms on Capitol,” the Democrats wrote. Unknowingly endanger themselves and others. “
The house rules package for the 117th Congress is currently being prepared by members of the Rules Committee, led by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). The passing of the rules will be one of the very first votes of the House when the Chamber meets on January 3 of next year to start the next session.