House metal detector
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Congressional staff passes through a metal detector and security screening as they enter the House chamber, new measures put into place after a mob stormed the Capitol, in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

By Matthew Daly, Associated Press

Capitol Police are investigating an incident in which a Republican lawmaker was blocked from entering the House chamber after setting off a metal detector while apparently carrying a concealed gun.

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., set off the metal detector while trying to enter the chamber Thursday afternoon. The metal detectors were installed after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, which left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer. The incident was witnessed by a reporter from the Huffington Post

After setting off the machine, Harris was asked to step aside for further screening. At that time, an officer discovered Harris was carrying a concealed gun on his side, according to the reporter.

The officer sent Harris away, at which point Harris tried to get Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., to take the gun from him. Katko refused, telling Harris he didn’t have a license to carry a gun. Harris eventually left and returned less than 10 minutes later. He once again went through security and did not set off the magnetometer. He was then allowed to enter the House floor.

Harris, in his sixth term representing Maryland’s Eastern Shore, issued a statement through his chief of staff, Bryan Shuy.

“Because his and his family’s lives have been threatened by someone who has been released awaiting trial, for security reasons, the congressman never confirms whether he nor anyone else he’s with are carrying a firearm for self-defense,” the statement said. “As a matter of public record, he has a Maryland Handgun Permit. And the congressman always complies with the House metal detectors and wanding. The Congressman has never carried a firearm on the House floor.”

Eva Malecki, a spokeswoman for Capitol Police, said the incident is being investigated.

The public is not allowed to carry guns on Capitol grounds, but members of Congress may keep firearms in their offices or transport them on the Capitol grounds if they are unloaded and securely wrapped. Lawmakers are not allowed to bring guns into either the House or Senate chambers.

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80 COMMENTS

  3. GET YA LTC . CONGRESS INSTALL LOCKER PLACE TO TO DROP OFF N LOCK UP WEAPONS , BEFORE INNER / ENTREE’ , WHY NOT ?

    • I stopped reading the article after the first paragragh. Typical corporate fake news. Attempted insurrection that left 5 people dead? I belive one capital police officer was beaten to death and one rioter (not isurrectionist) was shot and killed. A third may have been constricted in a crowd of people but wasn’t personally attacked and the other two died from medical conditions, a heart attack and a stroke.
      Surprised they weren’t all declared COVID-19 casualties.

  5. MEMO TO TTAG:

    Stop breathlessly reporting incidents like this as if some major crime was barely averted.

    Americans have a right to self-defense, no matter who they are.

    • It’s relevant to all of us. Right now the big fight about guns going on in government is about law makers carrying in and around the capital.

      1)Legislators are being forced to take a stand, if only to preserve their own rights.

      2)It very publicly illustrates how crazy the left/dems are that they fear even their fellow congress members having a gun.

      3)They are acting as our rodeo clowns By keeping Pelosi and company tied up fighting that battle these legislators are keeping them from coming after us.

      4)They are becoming more sympathetic to our cause. Having been attacked over their right to bear arms, they will have more empathy who others under similar attack.

      I hope TTAG and other venues will continue to report on these situations.

    • I can guarantee that during the founders time there were arms in all halls of government and for quite some time after that. All Americans Have The Right To Be Armed Everywhere at any time or at least that is what the supreme law of the land states as written.

    • It’s not a ttag piece. It’s a reprint of an AP article. They’re chock full of leftist garbage even when they are on topic and I really wish ttag would quit publishing them.

    • Nancy Pelosi arranged for 25,000 men armed with machine guns to protect and defend Democrats in the Capitol, at taxpayer expense, but for some reason this lonely Republican cannot be prepared to defend his DAMN self? Let’s look back into the far reaches of our Constitution and see if we can find justification for refusing this man armed entry onto the house floor, the people of MD did not vote to have him disarmed. If another Member fears his arms, that Member should feel free to arm himself as well.

      • And it looks like they’re aiming to keep a bunch of troops there on a long-standing deployment, too. Looks to me like they think they’re at war against the rest of us.

    • Not in Maryland,,, (defense using a firearm that is). At least one congressman from Md. was able to obtain a permit. May issue in Md. means you must provide evidence of a direct threat to qualify or someone that is not from the unwashed masses.

  7. I thought anytime congress is in session, a rep or senator can not be detained by any LEO, that prevents him/her from attending a vote. So how was he legally detained?

    • I am also curious about this. How can a ‘rule’ (and not a law) prevent a duly elected representative from entering into legislative debate and voting? Could not the majority simply rule that none of the other members can enter the chamber?

      • Hannibal,

        I was going to say that the U.S. House of Representatives have U.S. Constitutional authority to set their own rules any way they wish to govern themselves in the Capitol building.

        And then you had to go and say, “Could not the majority simply rule that none of the other members can enter the chamber?” Now that is a potentially huge problem. I am at a loss at this point as well.

        Being pragmatic about the whole thing, though, a majority in the U.S. House does carry the day on any matter over which they have legitimate authority. Thus, I don’t think it would be a problem if they refuse to allow a minority to vote on something since the minority would lose the vote anyway.

      • Hannibal,

        Here you go from the United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 5:

        Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

        That right there says that the House can make their own rules for their “proceedings” as well as make their own punishments. And that includes stating that members must disarm before entering.

        Now the fact that that could be in conflict with the Second Amendment is an entirely different kettle of fish.

  8. nancy scared one of them is going to shoot her but what she needs is to lose everything she owns and all her money and go to jail

  9. Nazi Pelosi and her anti-constitutional tyranny finally affects the perfumed princes of the political class. Well how about that.

  10. US Constitution
    Article I, Section 6, Clause 1

    The Senators and Representatives…shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony, and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same….

    • Yes but he was not arrested. One wonders what they would have done if he had simply told them to “F off” and walked through to do his business. What authority do they have to stop him? I don’t know what the answer is, because presumably there is some kind of authority that the capitol police have delegated by congress itself, but I would like to find out.

      • They recently implemented a $2,500 fine for the first time a representative refuses to go through the metal detectors, and $10,000 every time after that.

        • So, go through the metal detectors and keep walking right on into the chamber, he is not a visitor, he is the one protected by that section of the same Constitution which EVERYBODY PRESENT has sworn to protect and defend, right? Cops and Congressmen both. Who is authorized to stop him?

    • “Breach of the peace” is a vague catchall that could be interpreted to carrying a firearm.

      • Or breathing. Wearing a red tie. Don’t be ridiculous, anybody who tried to pull that shit should be looking for a new job.

  14. Metal Detectors are set up because of what happened on Jan. 6th? I guess if there is another mostly peaceful protesting mob that storms the Capitol building, they will be able only to do so after they have been cleared by the Metal Detector, is that the Liberals’ logic?

    • Maybe… There’s a picture of a so-called “violent mob” going into the capital building who are carefully staying between the velvet ropes.

      • Apparently everyone didn’t stay between the velvet ropes because the FBI is prosecuting over 300 individuals for federal crimes related to the Insurrection.

        Not to mention five dead people, but you don’t really care about your fellow citizens, do you?

        • Five? Would that be 3 from natural causes, one conked with a fire extinguisher, presumably by one person (not 300), and one unarmed woman shot to death by a police goon under the direction of Nasty Pelosi? Who has apparently not been charged?

    • That’s funny, but really there’s no logic. It’s all a show put on by Nancy, just like the 25,000 Guard troops. “See what we have to do to keep us safe from the loony white supremacist trumper cultists incited by Trump? That’s why we had to Impeach him.”

      • Did you somehow miss the several hundred people smashing their way into the Capitol, beating on the doors of the Senate and House, chanting hang Mike Pence?

        Considering the insurrectionists caused at least five deaths that day, I think it’s reasonable for Congress people and their staff to have concerns about their physical safety.

        There is quite a bit of video of the insurrection available on the Internet, you might want to watch some of it to become more familiar with the very real threat of injury and death offered by the violent insurrectionist Trump supporters who smashed their way into United States Capitol during a joint session of Congress deliberating our presidential election under the mandate of the United States Constitution.

        • Also lots of video showing BoweL Movement thugs on a tear, soiling their own nest on a grand scale. Not even dogs are that stupid.

        • Oddly enough, there don’t seem to be any BLM members in the federal arrest or warrants as of yet. There was one POC arrested, as far as I know.

          I understand there is another individual, Ali Alexander, who was working in concert with three Republican congressman to plan and execute some portions of January 6 events.
          His whereabouts are unknown and the Republican politicians are all claiming they never met him, he was just a coffee boy, etc.

        • Of course hardly any arrests of BLM rioters. All summer the cops were under orders to let them riot. Those arrested were bailed out by Harris’ slush fund.

        • That’s what you have, one individual who claim to be BLM at previous protest?

          So out of thousands of protesters, hundreds arrested, you have one guy who claims to be BLM. So that’s what, .3% of the insurrectionists were self professed BLM? Sounds about right, some nut jobs will claim any group as authorization to act out their violent fantasies.

          From your link:

          “John Earle Sullivan was arrested as one of the people who had breached the capital, he had previously been arrested in Salt Lake City Utah at a Black Lives Matter protest where he professed being a member of BLM.“

          He claims he’s a documentary filmmaker, looks like he’s just a troublemaker.

  15. News of a gun in the capital? I feel a fainting spell coming on. Apprehend that gunman for reprogramming. We must protect the fuhrer Jim Crow Gun Control joe and the fraulein ho from the deplorables. Round them all up for reprogramming. Those who refuse send them to the gas chambers or work camps. Sieg Heil.

  16. “Harris tried to get Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., to take the gun from him. Katko refused, telling Harris he didn’t have a license to carry a gun.” — What??? Tried to pass off his gun to someone else? What a dope.

  17. If the news keeps publishing these articles about which members of congress are packing, the ones who aren’t might start feeling a little naked. Could lead to some fun cognitive dissonance episodes.

    • You assume we’ll make it to 2024….

      The odds are not in our favor especially when Creepy Joe pulls the gun control lever and that is coming before the mid-terms. Has to if they want to attempt it.

      • LOL , picking strong R candidates. Like a vote for a Republican will be counted.
        I like the way the founding fathers said We the People could make wrongs right, and then its, two people conspiring against the government is an insurection. “A Republic Ma’am, if you can keep it.” WTF

        • More mindless defeatism, I see.

          It’s on the states to clean voting up. That does not diminish the importance of strong candidates.

        • Which States Mark?

          And the States don’t have to clean anything.

          SCOTUS made sure of that.

          Defeatism?

          No, it’s seeing how things are clearly.

      • Why would anybody think we’ll get to 2024? Didn’t you see, Ditsy Joe mandated masks while not wearing one, impeachment should be done by tomorrow with a trial next week. Commie Le Haire Azz gives us a hundred things to impeach her for, as does Pelosi, Trump back in the Oval by christmas.

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  23. “…the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, which left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer. ”

    You keep publishing this lies like this one and I will go to other gun sites. Here are the facts:

    Only one person died due to violence during the Jan. 6 demonstrations: An unarmed demonstrator who was shot to death by a capitol police officer for crawling through a window.

    All the other deaths were due to natural causes such as heart attack.

    And demonstrations are NOT insurrections. If the asshole who wrote this piece ever lived through a real insurrection, he would not put out this BS.

    Change your editorial policies now or you will lose my eyeballs forever.

    • It’s from the AP.

      By Matthew Daly, Associated Press

      Yes, the entire piece is up for discussion..especially the lies.

      just sayin

      • Thank you. That was not obvious from the post.

        To TTAG editors: If you post questionable content, you need to insert some comments of your own to make the context clear.

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