More seriously, his actions give support to the enemies of the Second Amendment. The common argument against allowing citizens to own guns is that people can't be trusted to handle them properly and to behave responsibly. James Webb is a senator, a trained Marine and a long-time NRA member. If anybody could follow the rules of gun ownership, it would be Webb.
And yet Webb left his loaded gun in a bag in a car. He allowed a person without a permit to gain access to his weapon. Because Webb didn't tell Thompson, Thompson didn't know he had a gun in the bag, which means he didn't safeguard it properly. This is exactly the shoddy mistreatment and mishandling of a weapon that gun opponents point to when they try to take our guns away.
But maybe Webb was trying to give gun owners a bad name. Isn't that how the Dems work? They take someone who's got "credibility" on an issue, and use them to push the issue. Afterall, Murtha's a former Marine and war hero, so why not use him to attack Bush's Iraq policy? And why not use Webb to attack gun rights?
In fairness to Webb - it does nothing to help his aide if he says he gave him gun. Then the Aide was knowingly was carrying gun. Could be that Webb never intended for Aide to carry gun into Senate and it was all a mix up.
I give Webb benifit of doubt on this. He is also standing up for his right to carry - if it was a typical Republican he would have fallen prosate to ground and joined HCI.