Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) from the great state of Kentucky has just introduced a bill that would allow Congressman (and everybody else) to use their home state concealed carry permit to also carry their firearm while visiting our nation’s capital.
Speaking to Neil Cavuto on Fox News earlier today, Massie argued that anyone who is able to get a permit in their home state should also be allowed to carry their legally obtained firearm when they travel to D.C.
“What I’m trying to do is anticipate how to avoid a tragic situation in the future, and what the American people don’t realize is that most congressman do not have a security detail and we are as exposed as the general public is exposed as they come to visit our nation’s Capitol.”
It’s not just Thomas Massie who is pushing for more freedom to defend yourself. Georgia Congressman Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) made the argument on Thursday that Congressman should not be forced to give up the right to protect themselves simply because they’ve been elected to Congress. He agreed with Rep. Massie that there should be reciprocity for Americans who hold permits from their home state to also carry as they travel around the country.
“I think we need to look at some kind of reciprocity for members here, but also we need to look at security detail if Scalise hadn’t been on our team it would have been really bad. You know, at what point do you have a congregation of members — and we’re not any more special anybody else but we are targets — do you have a security detail with you then.
I think there are several things to look at– first of all if this had happened to Georgia he wouldn’t have he wouldn’t have gotten too far,” he continued. “I had a staff member who was in his car maybe 20 yards behind the shooter who was pinned in his car who back in Georgia carries a 9-millimeter in his car. I carry a weapon. He had a clear shot at it. But here we’re not we’re not allowed to carry any weapons here.”
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) echoed these concerns yesterday when he said that if Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) had not been at the practice with his security detail, the shooter may have been able to kill many of those gathered for the practice because they had no way to defend themselves.
he Capitol Hill police, from my understanding is, like I say, incredibly brave and probably saved the lives of everybody there. Had they not been there, it would have been a massacre. And because there is no escaping a guy with — if he’s got several hundred bullets and we had no weapons and no place to hide. So if he would have advanced on the rest of us, there would have been no chance. The only chance we had was that the shots were returned by the Capitol Hill police.
Constitution.com
