DC Carry Ruling Could Positively Impact Hill Staffer and Lobbyist Caught With Gun At Capitol

Roll Call reports that Saturday's ruling by Judge Frederick Scullin Jr. in Palmer v. District of Columbia could affect currently charges against a Hill staffer and lobbyist recent caught carrying a firearm at the U.S. Capitol. Neither were charged by Capitol Police but were turned over to Metropolitan PD to be charge for violating DC gun laws:

Charges against two men whom Capitol Police allegedly stopped from bringing 9 mm handguns to Capitol Hill could change, as attorneys scramble to interpret the effect of a federal judge overturning the District’s handgun ban. 

On July 26, Judge Frederick Scullin Jr. ruled in Palmer v. District of Columbia that D.C.’s complete ban on the carrying of handguns in public is unconstitutional. In the 19-page decision, Scullin wrote that he was stopping enforcement of the law “unless and until” the city adopted a constitutionally valid licensing mechanism. 

D.C. police were subsequently instructed not to enforce the law against carrying pistols in public. In two separate incidents that are raising questions about campus security, Hill staffer Ryan Shucard and pork executive Ronald William Prestage were charged with violating that law when police uncovered handguns and magazines during administrative searches at the Cannon House Office building.  

The order not to enforce the law came from Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier on Sunday and is being implemented “until further notice,” according to her notice.

Likely stopped, at least for now, by the ruling from proceeding on charges related to violating DC city ordinances, federal prosecutors are considering charging both with violating the prohibition on possessing a firearm at the Capitol building or grounds.