Members of Congress and staffers will have to walk through metal detectors to get onto the floor of the House of Representatives, CNN reports. The development comes after House Democrats said they are worried about some of their Republican colleagues and that there have been multiple conversations about the need for every member of Congress and their guests to start going through metal detectors. Acting House Sergeant-at-Arms Timothy Blodgett said the metal detectors were being installed to ensure compliance with police regulations banning guns and incendiary devices from the chamber. Firearms are restricted to lawmakers’ offices.
“There have been increasing tensions with certain incoming freshmen for months, who have been insistent on bringing firearms in violation of law and guidelines,” one House Democrat said, in a reference to Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina and others. Boebert was filmed in a campaign advertisement vowing to carry her Glock handgun around Capitol Hill and has said she would carry her gun to Congress. Boebert called the metal detectors a “political stunt,” saying, “It is a shame that Nancy Pelosi is trying to disarm Members of Congress in the very place that needed more protection on January 6th. It is clear metal detectors would not have deterred the violent acts we saw; this political stunt does nothing to improve the safety of Members in the Capitol complex.” Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL), a ranking member of the House administration committee, called the metal detectors evidence of “political correctness run amok. The threat is outside, not inside. Every resource used inside is one that can’t be used outside.”