House Democrats are looking to get rid of a 50-year-old Capitol Hill regulation that allows members of Congress to keep guns in their offices and carry them on Capitol grounds.
“I don’t think we can just keep looking the other way or sweep this issue under the rug,” California Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman, who has been spearheading the effort, told The Washington Post. “Our political climate is too volatile and there are too many warning signs that we need to address things like this.”
Huffman has pushed the issue for months, but recently gained the support of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is seeking a return to the House speakership as Democrats take the majority in early January.
A Pelosi spokesman said that if elected, she would direct authorities to “revisit” the regulation.
But a Republican lawmaker said the move is more about “theatrics” than public safety.
Huffman and Pelosi are looking to “solve a problem that doesn’t exist,” said Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie.
According to the Post, Huffman has merely heard rumors of colleagues keeping guns in their offices and on their person, but does not have any firsthand knowledge of specific instances.
It’s not immediately clear how common it is for lawmakers to keep guns on hand at the Capitol, and the sergeant at arms informed Huffman during a briefing that Capitol authorities do not keep any sort of record of which offices are in possession of firearms.
In order to bring a gun to Capitol Hill, however, members of Congress would have to comply with strict D.C. gun laws, including registering the firearm with police.
This Capitol Hill regulation is in the hands of the Capitol Police Board, which is a group of four members made up of the sergeants at arms of the House and Senate, the architect of the Capitol, and the chief of U.S. Capitol Police.
