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.
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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:
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." Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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