Lawmakers debate Capitol gun ban

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats are debating whether to bar lawmakers from carrying firearms on the Capitol grounds, with House leaders pressing to make the complex gun-free but top senators in the party resisting the move.

House Democrats have been pressing for the ban since the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, and the idea has gained momentum in the chamber amid extreme behavior from some Republicans, including the circulation of imagery portraying attacks on Democrats.

This week, a gun charge against Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C. — the second such charge for the first-term lawmaker — added urgency to the issue.

Lawmakers are already prohibited from carrying guns onto the floor of the House or Senate or into other select rooms, but they may carry them to and in their offices.

During a private meeting Wednesday with House committee chairs, Cawthorn’s latest gun charge came up, and Rep. Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat, expressed frustration over the situation, saying the Senate did not want to deal with the gun issue, according to a person familiar with the discussion who described it on condition of anonymity.

Hoyer blamed the Senate sergeant-at-arms, the chamber’s top security official, for blocking a rules change that would have to be approved by the Capitol Police Board, which governs security around the complex, the person said.

Cawthorn, 26, was detained by police Tuesday after trying to bring a loaded gun in his carry-on bag through airport security in Charlotte, N.C., the second time in a little more than a year that he has been stopped from flying with a firearm.

Hoyer told his fellow top Democrats on Wednesday that William Walker, the House sergeant-at-arms, was planning to issue a letter calling for the Capitol complex to be gun-free but that he did not have agreement from the Senate, the person familiar with Hoyer’s comments said.