Norton Challenges Massie to Offer Amendment to Allow Guns on Capitol Grounds as Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill Heads to House Floor

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today challenged Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) to follow his convictions of allowing his constituents to be armed wherever they travel by offering an amendment to the fiscal year 2018 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill to overturn the federal ban on bringing guns onto the U.S. Capitol grounds. The Legislative Branch bill is scheduled for consideration on the House floor next week; Members must file amendments by Monday, July 24. Massie has introduced a bill (H.R. 2909) to require the District of Columbia to recognize out-of-state permits to carry concealed guns, regardless of the state standards for issuing such permits, and has tried to block D.C. from spending its local funds to enforce some or all of its gun safety laws, including its concealed and open carry laws, through four amendments to the D.C. Appropriations bill since he first came to Congress, in 2012.

"Representative Massie continues to go to great lengths to bring down one of D.C.'s gun safety laws under the guise of allowing his constituents to arm themselves in the nation's capital; yet he has cowardly refused to do the obvious—allow his constituents to carry concealed guns on the Capitol Grounds and in federal buildings in Kentucky, such as post offices," Norton said. "If Representative Massie truly believed that easier access to carry concealed guns is the answer, he should be consistent and file an amendment to allow guns where he works and in federal buildings across the nation."