Gun-toting congresswoman-elect may have just won shootout with Dems over carrying in Capitol

“Millions of Americans go to work every day while carrying firearms for self-defense,” Erich Pratt, the senior vice president of the Gun Owners of America, a noted firearm rights organization, said in a press release. “So why shouldn’t Members of Congress or their staff be able to do the same? Criminals won’t follow the laws, and they will always manage to get their hands on weapons, regardless of the restrictions in place,” Pratt added. 

A Republican congresswoman-elect from Colorado appears to have persuaded Democratic House leadership to preserve a decades-old rule that exempts lawmakers from Washington, D.C.’s ban on the carrying of concealed firearms.

Rep.-elect Lauren Boebert wrote to House leaders Friday imploring them to keep intact the 1967 exemption which allows lawmakers to carry concealed inside the Capitol Building.

The letter was signed by 83 current and incoming Republican lawmakers including Reps. Dan Crenshaw (Texas), Mo Brooks (Ala.), Louie Gohmert (Texas) and Matt Gaetz (Fla.), and came just a few days after 21 Democrats asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to ditch the rule so that Boebert would be prevented from carrying a firearm.

“If Members can’t carry on Capitol grounds, they can’t protect themselves in D.C. while making their way to and from their offices to perform their official duties. The ‘last-mile’ transition of self-protection is critical. The current regulations provide transitional coverage once the Member is physically on campus,” the GOP letter said…

As for the Colorado representative-elect, she is the owner of Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colo., a firearm-themed eatery where staff openly carry handguns. Boebert had made the statement that she planned to carry a Glock handgun when she went to D.C.

In doing so, Boebert cited the early-morning June 2017 shooting at an area softball field where GOP lawmakers were practicing for their annual game against Democrats. Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana was nearly killed in the incident.

She also referenced a 1998 attack in which a man killed two police officers during a shooting inside the Capitol Building.

“Millions of Americans go to work every day while carrying firearms for self-defense,” Erich Pratt, the senior vice president of the Gun Owners of America, a noted firearm rights organization, said in a press release.

“So why shouldn’t Members of Congress or their staff be able to do the same? Criminals won’t follow the laws, and they will always manage to get their hands on weapons, regardless of the restrictions in place,” Pratt added.

[Editor’s Note: GOA supported Rep. Boebert’s efforts and successfully lobbied other congressmen to oppose Nancy Pelosi’s anti-gun rules change. Rep. Boebert has also cosponsored legislation to expand American gun owners’ rights by cosponsoring HR 38.]

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