As the Washington Post reports today, an aide to Senator James Webb has been charged with trying to bring a gun into a Senate office building.
A couple questions:
He’s being charged in DC court with possessing an unregistered firearm and unregistered ammunition. But the DC law governing this was recently ruled unconstitutional. By what mechanism can they continue to enforce it?
He was on federal property when he did this. Does DC even have jurisdiction here? Shouldn’t he be charged with violating a federal law, if he’s going to be charged with anything? Did he even break any federal law?
According to this article (which may or may not be comprehensive) the court struck down provisions of the law regarding keeping guns in one’s home and requiring that registered guns be kept disassembled. It does not appear to touch the provisions against carrying concealed weapons or ammunition without the proper license or permit.
There is no general federal law requiring a person to register either firearms or ammunition. However, 18 USC § 930 et seq forbids either possessing or causing to be present " …a firearm or other dangerous weapon in a Federal facility…"
Otto, thanks for pointing that out. That distinction evaded me when I was reading about the case.
Bricker, thanks for the cite. However, it seems that the aide is being charged with violating DC’s gun laws, not a federal law. As I understand it, DC’s laws have no authority on federal property, especially on Congressional property.
Unless he was able to use a Star Trek transporter, he must have had it in his position in DC, but outside the Capitol building, in order for him to get it to that building. No?
But the guy was caught in the Senate office building, not within the Metro police’s jurisdiction.
There was an article in Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, a few years ago that talked about this. I wish I could find it online, but that search is proving fruitless. However, it’s not illegal for a Senator to bring a gun into the Capitol. As the Post article quoted the Capitol Police spokesman, “Any senator who has a gun permit and wants to bring a gun onto congressional property must unload the gun and make sure it is ‘securely wrapped.’” From reading the *Roll Call * article, I thought I remembered that a staff member who wanted to do the same could do so. Basically, the Capitol Police attitude was that, sure, you may have broken a law getting the gun there, but they weren’t there to enforce DC’s gun laws. I’m just wondering now if they are enforcing DC’s gun laws and how that works.
Yep. I was thinking of the 2000 Roll Call article, but that gives me the info I need. So it still raises a question: it’s legal for staff members and Congressmen to have guns in the Capitol complex as long as they are unloaded and stored securely. So why is the guy being charged with having an unregistered gun and ammunition?