• Madison Cawthorn was caught with a loaded gun at an airport for the 2nd time on Tuesday.
  • Now, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is calling for a ban on firearms at the US Capitol complex.
  • Hoyer said the grounds "ought to be made a fully gun-free zone" after the "disturbing" incident.

Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer  is calling for a ban on firearms at the US Capitol after Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn was cited for the second time for trying bring a gun into an airport.

On Tuesday, Cawthorn was cited by local police after TSA agents at Charlotte Douglas International Airport discovered a loaded, 9-millimeter handgun attempting to bring in his position.

The 26-year-old congressman was cited for "possession of a dangerous weapon on city property" by officers from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. It's the second time he's been caught with a gun at an airport in the last year — he was also caught with a loaded gun at Asheville Regional Airport in August 2021.

 

In a letter to the House Sergeant-at-Arms sent on Wednesday, Hoyer said that the "disturbing news" of Cawthorn's attempt to travel with a gun make it "essential that we have a clear and unambiguous policy in place regarding gun safety in the Capitol Complex and grounds."

"I hope that you and your Capitol Police Board colleagues will move swiftly to adopt proposed changes to Police Board Regulations Pertaining to Firearms, Explosives, Incendiary Devices, and Other Dangerous Weapons... to reflect today's security challenges," Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, wrote. He also asked for the Sergeant-at-Arms' view on "the question of whether the Capitol Complex ought to be made a fully gun-free zone."

It's the third such letter Hoyer has sent on the topic.

In December, he sent a letter to the Capitol Police board highlighting the "lack of clarity" around whether lawmakers may carry guns in their personal offices, particularly "in light of heinous threats made by certain Members against colleagues while on the grounds of the Capitol and its office buildings."

That letter came soon after the House took issue with Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona after he released an anime video that depicted him killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on New York. Gosar got both a censure and stripped of his committee assignments. 

While it was already prohibited for members of Congress to bring guns onto the House floor, members were previously exempt from any security screening until metal detectors were installed outside the chamber following the January 6 attacks.

And in January, Hoyer sent another letter to the police board, this time calling for the "inclusion of language clarifying that firearms are prohibited from committee spaces... Capitol complex dining halls, restrooms, and all other spaces outside of Members' personal offices."

Cawthorn's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The gun incident is the latest controversy for the North Carolina Republican, who appears to have become the latest violator of the STOCK Act after failing to disclose his purchase of a "Let's Go Brandon"-themed cryptocurrency. That led Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a fellow Republican critic of Cawthorn's, to call for a House Ethics Committee investigation.

Also last month, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy declared that Cawthorn had lost his "trust" after the congressman insinuated that his colleagues participate in cocaine-fueled orgies.

 

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