Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Reps Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) and Ken Buck (R-Colo.) just dodged a run-in with the D.C. authorities. According to a report early Tuesday from The Hill, the attorney general’s office was considering an investigation into whether the two broke D.C. law by snapping this picture with Buck’s patriotic (and inoperable) AR-15:
“It is illegal to possess an AR-15 in the District,” the attorney general’s office spokesman said.
Later in the day, however, the Denver Post reported that the kerfuffle ended once the Capitol Police got involved:
But reached Tuesday, the U.S. Capitol Police, which are responsible for protecting Congress, said everything was OK. Same goes for D.C. authorities, who wrote Tuesday afternoon that Capitol Police were handling the matter.
That’s a slight change from midday Tuesday, when it appeared as if D.C. authorities might investigate the gun and the photo. A spokesman with the Office of the Attorney General in D.C. said the matter had been referred to the Metropolitan Police Department.
“We have received several inquiries about the situation and have referred them and all relevant information to the Metropolitan Police Department for investigation,” said Robert Marus, spokesman for the D.C. attorney general.
But a D.C. police spokeswoman said late Tuesday that Capitol Police were in charge. And Capitol Police said nothing was wrong with Buck’s photo.
According to the Post, it was a liberal Colorado blog that first raised the alarm about the photo.
“I have a very patriotic AR15 hanging in my office. It hangs directly above my Second Amendment flag,” Buck said in a statement.
“As for how it arrived at the office: we received permission from the U.S. Capitol Police to bring the inoperable rifle to the office in a locked case where it was inspected and approved for display.”
“It is a beautiful, patriotic paper weight,” he said.
Buck and Gowdy would not have been the first people to be investigated for a similar infraction–David Gregory almost got in trouble for bringing a 30-round ammunition magazine onto the set of “Meet the Press.”