Several Republican lawmakers threw fits over new metal detectors at the Capitol
To get to the floor of the House, members of Congress now have to go through metal detectors, and this was too much for some Republican lawmakers to handle.
The metal detectors were set up by Capitol Police on Tuesday, nearly a week after the Capitol riot, and all House members, staffers, and aides must walk through them. In a memo, Acting House Sergeant-at-Arms Timothy Blodgett said the metal detectors were installed to ensure everyone is in compliance with regulations banning guns and incendiary devices from the chamber, CNN reports.
"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 told CNN, referring to Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert (Colo.) and Madison Cawthorn (N.C.). Last week, Cawthorn told a news outlet that when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, he was armed, while Boebert has been boasting for weeks that she would carry her handgun at all times.
On Tuesday, Boebert set off a metal detector, then refused to show Capitol Police officers what was in her bag; after a brief standoff, she was let through. Boebert wasn't the only one to cause a scene:
House GOP furious at new mags outside the chamber. Reps. Markwayne Mullin and Steve Womack erupted at Capitol Police as they were forced to go through the mags. Womack shouted “I was physically restrained!” And Mullin said “it’s my constitutional right” and “they cannot stop me
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 13, 2021
Another member — I believe it was Russ Fulcher — just pushed his way through. He went through the metal detector, set it off, ran into a cop, and then pushed his way past her.
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) January 13, 2021
Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) just told the cops at the door he believes the magnetometers are unconstitutional.
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) January 13, 2021
Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) immediately fired off an angry tweet, saying lawmakers are "being wanded like criminals! We now live in [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi's communist America!" Lesko and the rest of the anti-metal detector crowd got no sympathy from Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who said they now know how high school students in her district feel. "Suck it up buttercups," she added. "Y'all brought this on yourselves."
It’s almost as though GOP members promoting videos of themselves illegally carrying firearms on Capitol grounds, posting images of themselves holding guns next to Democratic members,& inciting an attack on the Capitol has consequences!
Naturally, GOP are crying & playing victim. https://t.co/aetBLFfxfx
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 13, 2021
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