Posted on 01/09/2011 8:12:09 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Two lawmakers said Sunday they'll pack heat back home after the deadly attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
The decision by Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) raises new questions about whether lawmakers should carry guns for self defense - or need to.
"After the elections, I let my guard down," Shuler, an ex-NFL player, told Politico. "Now I know I need to have [my gun] on me."
Shuler and Chaffetz won't be the first lawmakers to be strapped.
The U.S. Marshals Service can deputize a member of Congress as a special deputy marshal if a threat assessment shows they are in danger, a federal law enforcement official said.
Carrying a special deputy badge allows the bearer to carry a concealed handgun anywhere, including inside a federal building like the U.S. Capitol.
Those who are so deputized aren't publicized, but Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has said he was granted deputy status after receiving death threats in the 1990s.
Most members prefer to accept protection from plainclothes U.S. Capitol Police - a perk of power typically reserved only for top congressional leaders.
During last year's health care debate, the Capitol Police temporarily assigned bodyguards to several lawmakers after they were threatened.
Plans for a massive underground security screening center were already underway when crazed gunman Russell Weston shot his way into the Capitol on July 24, 1998, killing Officers Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson, who was House Leader Tom DeLay's bodyguard. Gibson heroically stopped the insane killer by wounding him.
The Capitol Visitors Center turned into a nearly $1 billion subterranean catacomb after the 9/11 attacks targeted the Capitol.
Yet lawmakers still walk out in the open between the Capitol and House and Senate office buildings.
(AUDIO OF 911 CALL AT LINK)
If more Citizens were packing heat Jared wouldn’t have gotten off more than a couple of shots!
HYPOCRITE!Who made you special?
Oh of course.
Someone shoots them, it’s a crisis.
Muslim invaders kill us and it’s “racist” to want to protect ourselves.
How typical of the Ruling Elite.
Some animals are more equal than others.
I would not even serve as dogcatcher in this country without packing. Of course they should be armed. Citizens too.
Gabrielle Giffords’ shooting leads some lawmakers to say they’ll carry weapons to protect themselves
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...and Nancy Pelosi will commence shooting at all who mention the constitution in their questions to her.
If Heath Shuler knew how to protect himself, he wouldn’t have been sacked so many times.
Giffords was ambushed from behind. If she was armed it wouldn’t have helped.
BINGO!
It will become worse than panicky policemen shooting Fido because he barked.
-PJ
There is nothing special about these people at all unless your life is of less value.What boat of privilege did these people get off of?
“If more Citizens were packing heat Jared wouldn’t have gotten off more than a couple of shots!”
Yes, it’s tragic no one took him out quickly.
But she was surrounded by a crowd of other democrats, so nobody else there had a gun either.
Ping.
One standard for the elite, another for us lowly peons.
One standard for the elite, another for us lowly peons.” _____________________________________________________________
Of course it’s always the armed elite employed with body guards who take your gun, or push for a taking.
2nd Ammendment for me! Not for thee!
(They are the real important people you know, the rest of us are peeons)
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