Lawmakers on the House Natural Resources Committee got into a contentious debate Wednesday over an attempt by Democrats to reinstate a rule banning guns from the committee room.
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., proposed an amendment that would explicitly prohibit members from carrying firearms within the hearing rooms and conference rooms of the committee. He said the amendment was “sadly necessary” after the Republican-controlled Rules Committee stripped a provision from the Natural Resources Committee rules that Democrats had adopted for the previous two years prohibiting firearms after that Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The Republican majority voted the amendment down 14-25, but not before several minutes of heated back-and-forth between committee members, including one moment where Huffman called for a show of hands to see who was not carrying a firearm right then and there.
“We have too many members who have incited and advocated armed political violence. That is really unfortunate, but that is just a fact,” the California Democrat said, accusing unnamed lawmakers of “flouting” federal statutes barring members of Congress from carrying loaded firearms in the Capitol. Read more…
