by LEON VALSECHI ON JUN 30, 2017, SecurityInfoWatch
SOURCE: MCCLATCHY
Following the shooting at a GOP congressional baseball team practice on June 14 in Alexandria, Va., , U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Howard Township, has co-sponsored legislation that attempts to loosen restrictions on congressmen and women who are licensed or permitted to carry firearms.
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The gunman wounded four people, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, before exchanging fire with the congressman's security detail and police. The gunman, James Hodgkinson, was shot and pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Late last week, Scalise was listed in fair condition, according to the Washington Post.
"If there had not been a good guy with a gun on that baseball field or in proximity, I would probably over the last couple weeks have attended 20-25 funerals," Thompson said.
Of the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Thompson said only five are assigned a security detail : speaker, majority leader, minority leader, majority whip and minority whip.
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Members of congress cannot carry a firearm while in Washington, D.C., and Thompson said the lack of reciprocity laws made him take a step back and rethink the issue following the shooting. In an attempt to offer a protection option for members of Congress who are not in leadership positions, Thompson has co-sponsored two bills that he believes address the need.
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