Washington, D.C., Police Chief Robert Contee III warned newly elected Rep. Lauren Boebert that she would receive the same penalty as anyone else for illegally carrying a firearm in the district.
“There are no exceptions in the District of Columbia,” Contee said. “We plan to reach out to the congresswoman’s office to make sure that she is aware of what the laws of the District of Columbia are, what the restrictions are.”
Carrying a pistol outside of your home or business is a felony in Washington, D.C., with a potential penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of $12,500. Carrying an unregistered firearm is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.
Contee was responding to a video posted by Boebert that showed her walking the streets of Washington and around the Capitol building while vowing to have her pistol on her at all times.
“Even though I now work in one of the most liberal cities in America,” Boebert says in the video, which was posted on Twitter. “I refused to give up my rights, especially my Second Amendment rights. I will carry my firearm in D.C. and in Congress.”
Boebert cites her stature as a petite woman, as well as rising violent crime rates in the city, as justification for her needing a firearm. She notes that unlike the president and congressional leadership, she doesn’t have a motorcade and armed guards with her as she makes the trip to her office on Capitol Hill.
“I walk to my office each morning by myself,” Boebert says. “So as a 5-foot tall, 100-pound woman, I choose to protect myself legally because I am my best security.”
Boebert also says residents of the nation’s capital do not understand “how we live in real America,” where she says the Second Amendment is a valuable and cherished right.
Let me tell you why I WILL carry my Glock to Congress.
Government does NOT get to tell me or my constituents how we are allowed to keep our families safe.
I promise to always stand strong for our 2nd Amendment rights.https://t.co/E75tYpdN4B pic.twitter.com/qg7QGenrNo
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) January 4, 2021
Washington, D.C., concealed carry law does not recognize out-of-state licenses while prohibiting nonresidents from carrying firearms unless they are registered with the city’s police department.
Boebert, who owns a gun-themed restaurant in Rifle, Colorado, defeated incumbent Rep. Scott Tipton in the Republican primary before going on to win the general election. Shortly after, she wrote to U.S. Capitol Police to inquire about the rules of carrying guns.
The newly elected lawmaker’s desire to carry her pistol caused controversy among some of her colleagues, with some writing to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to ask if they could change the rules to prohibit lawmakers from carrying guns.
A 1967 law signed by former President Lyndon B. Johnson prohibited lawmakers from carrying firearms in their legislative chambers but allowed them to transport guns while on the Capitol grounds and keep them in their offices.
Pelosi unveiled the proposed new rules for the 117th Congress over the weekend, which did not include the proposed ban on lawmakers carrying firearms.
