Sen. Webb's Aide Faces Weapons Charges

An aide to Sen. Jim Webb was arrested Monday when he entered a Senate office building with a loaded pistol belonging to the senator.

Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said the aide was charged with carrying a pistol without a license and possessing an unregistered firearm and unregistered ammunition.

Webb's office identified the aide as Phillip Thompson and said he was "a former Marine, a long-term friend and trusted employee of the senator."

A congressional official briefed on the incident said Webb, D-Va., gave the gun to Thompson when the assistant drove him to an airport earlier in the day. Thompson, upon entering the Senate building, forgot he was carrying the weapon.

"To our knowledge, this incident was an oversight," Webb's office said in a statement. It said it had no other details.

The weapon was revealed when the aide went through an X-ray machine at an entrance of the Russell Senate Office Building, Schneider said. She said the man had a loaded pistol with two additional loaded magazines.