The Hill - Capitol cops tighten rules
Capitol cops tighten rules
By Josephine Hearn
Frank Melton, the flamboyant mayor of Jackson, Miss., is not a law enforcement officer. But that hasn't stopped him from carrying a gun aboard commercial airliners, patrolling his city wearing police gear with a Rottweiler mix by his side and generally adopting what his critics call a "Wild West" style of fighting crime.
Nor did it prevent him from walking around the Capitol complex six weeks ago wearing a law enforcement credential that allows him to carry firearms and bypass security checkpoints.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Melton has said he needs to carry firearms because he receives numerous death threats, the result, he says, of his tough stance on crime.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
When Melton arrived at Thompson's Rayburn office, staff members were surprised to see him wearing the credentials and were alarmed that he might be carrying a gun within the Capitol complex even though he was not a trained law enforcement officer. Although the mayor indicated he was unarmed, Thompson's staff was doubtful.
"The mayor has a history of being armed," said Thompson chief of staff Lanier Avant. "He has boasted about being armed in his Jackson office, in his home, on commercial airplanes, on street patrols in the city of Jackson, so I have no reason to believe he was unarmed."
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
The "incident in my office ... raised concerns about the controls in place to restrict and monitor firearms at the Capitol and in congressional office buildings," Thompson wrote Aug. 1. "Given that protecting the Capitol is a vital homeland security priority, it is critical that this credential program have strict safeguards."
Thompson is the senior Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, one of several members of Congress concerned with Capitol security. House officials have been continually beefing up security since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/090606/weapons.html