GOP Rep. Drafting Bill to Let Lawmakers Carry Guns in Capitol

Supreme Court police officer A.J. Mackie stands on the steps of the court in Washington, Thursday June 26, 2008.

/ AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert told reporters today that his staff is working on a measure to allow members of Congress to carry concealed weapons in the District of Columbia - including in the Capitol itself.

D.C. laws bar regular people from carrying concealed weapons for self-defense. There are exceptions - they can carry weapons if they are headed to a gun range, for example - but in general weapons must be kept in the home.

Gohmert told reporters it would be a "good thing" if members could carry concealed weapons, noting that he has "friends that walk home from the Capitol. "

"There is some protection in having protection," Gohmert said. He indicated that lawmakers should be able to carry weapons in the Capitol building itself, including on the House floor during debate.

Gohmert did not say if he himself would carry a weapon if the measure passed. But he said he felt scared at times during last year's health care debate, particularly when a stranger screamed at him on the street.

The Texas Republican, who is a strong supporter of gun rights, said he had applied for a conceal carry permit in Texas but stopped short of submitting it. The reason, he said, was that as a judge he saw that arrest warrants of those who had such permits carried warnings that the arrestee was licensed to carry a weapon.

Gohmert also said he did not believe there should be more gun control laws - "certainly not to protect Congress." Members have put forth proposals in the wake of the Tucson shooting Saturday to provide more protection to lawmakers, including a proposal from Republican Rep. Peter King of New York barring people from bringing a weapon within 1,000 feet of a government official.

In the 1830s through 1850s, members of Congress regularly wore weapons on the floor of the House and Senate - and sometimes used them to threaten colleagues.

[AOCGUY]

You know he might have something there. Just think, the law of unintended consequences might actually resolve the issue of term limits fairly permanently should this pass.

[licht1]

Mr. Gohmert is right, Washington's Capitol Hill is dangerous. Those people in Tucson were killed outside a Safeway supermarket, and there's one of those on Kentucky Avenue, a mere 14 blocks from the Capitol.

See http://******/gOiEPp

[mjlewis6]

OH, the Texas Legislature only meets for 120 days....every two years. The Governor is in office every day for FOUR YEARS...and the only counterbalance to this executive power is the legislature, NOT the State Courts, or for that matter Federal jurisdictions which honor comity of the states and waits for cases to come to it AFTER the State has steamrolled everyone in the State's Courts.

So, it is an Authoritarian Police State....lot of luck defending yourself in Texas with 2nd Amendment Rights of the US Constitution.

[mjlewis6]

Let ALL Texans have the right to bear arms inasmuchas we ALL pay taxes and we ALL have an individual right to our own privacy and protection of our rights ABSENT state power....

Article 1 Section 29 pretty much says all laws passed by the state that infringe on the rights listed above ARE VOID.

All those gun laws in Texas are NULL AND VOID along with a whole host of other laws constantly impacting fair trials and your rights.

Too bad the focus is on guns...and not on the over-reaching legislation of the state in public policy laws that allow the state to FINE or otherwise IMPOSE a cost for our safety.

It is all ILLEGAL. End of story.

By the by...Amend the Texas Constitution to have the legislature seated every day the Governor is in office. So far, Texas is an authoritarian police state managed by the Governor's Office...and balanced by State Courts and Federal Jurisdictions...

The only time it is a republic is when the legislature is in session.

[Birdman04]

"In the 1830s through 1850s, members of Congress regularly wore weapons on the floor of the House and Senate - and sometimes used them to threaten colleagues."

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No way........Say it ain't so. I believe it.

[pepcbob]

What a bunch of hogwash, so now we want more guns. Do you really think that allowing more guns to be out there is going to deter anyone if they are crazy enough to go and shoot someone. There was one guy that helped detain the guy in Arizona, he said "I was about to pull my gun out...I carry one like many Arizona citizens do" So it is quite obvious it is easy to get a gun in Arizona, and the shooter knew it, after all he went and got one, so if him knowing that there was a possibility that people at this meet and greet had guns didn't deter him from doing what he did why would a politician having a gun deter anyone? What they need to do is put back in the ban on these large clips. If that ban was still in place some of those people may not be dead right now. They stopped him when he went to reload after shooting 30 rounds...just imagine if they would have stopped him after ten...Who would be alive and who would be dead? All because STUPID people think it should be a right to have larger clips..the only people who need larger clips is the military and they are exempt from the law.

[Birdman04]

FBI Arrests 32-year-old Man For Threatening Washington Democratic Congressman Jim McDermott
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And the hits keep on coming. Pathetic.

[WVVic]

None of the want-a-be gunslinger Republicans can shoot as good as good as (hehehe) Dick Cheney.

[realist51]

yea! think about how great the debates would be! one wrong word about somebody and you could have 465 politians taking each other out in the house and 100 in the senate. pass the bill what better way to clean the gene pool.

[stn_sage]

to realist51: you know...maybe you're right! Maybe they should be allowed to carry their own weapons into the Capitol! IF they do as you suggest, and there's a good possibility they will...it might be the only way we ever get some of these 'do-nothings' out of there! Let them carry their own weapons, but not one more penny of the public's money to be spent on other security measures for them...they've got enough security now, and, they simply aren't WORTH anymore! Period.

[liberalme]

The only battle these republicans have in Washington is the one they started decades ago over power and wealth. That's who they are, not leaders but greedy power mongers.

Come on guys, just tell us---what would YOU give FOR this country??

That's gonna take a while to figure out because you're so used to being on the side of corporate money--just think about it!

Congress doesn't need guns or bullet-proof plexiglass--they need backbones and a conscience.