Jeannine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, on Monday threatened jail time for anyone who enters the capital with a gun.
In remarks on Fox News that could deepen a growing rift between gun owners and the Trump administration, Ms. Pirro declared that if anyone brings “a gun into the District, you mark my words, you’re going to jail. I don’t care if you have a license in another district and I don’t care if you’re a law-abiding law owner somewhere else.”
Her remarks prompted swift pushback from the Republican Party’s pro-Second Amendment wing, which was thrown into a cycle of confusion and frustration over comments from President Trump and some in his administration after Alex Pretti, a licensed gun owner, was shot by federal immigration agents last month during a protest in Minneapolis.
The shooting has fueled debate among conservatives over the administration’s vacillating posture toward lawful gun ownership. After the shooting, Mr. Trump and some senior administration officials sought to blame Mr. Pretti for carrying a concealed firearm during the protest.
“I don’t like that he had a gun, I don’t like that he had two fully loaded magazines, that’s a lot of bad stuff,” Mr. Trump said last week in Iowa.
Ms. Pirro’s remarks caught the attention of several Republican lawmakers, including Representative Greg Steube of Florida, a U.S. Army veteran, who said on social media that he travels into Washington from his home district every week with a firearm. “I have a license in Florida and DC to carry. And I will continue to carry to protect myself and others,” Mr. Steube wrote. “Come and Take it!”
Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, sought to dispute the legality of Ms. Pirro’s assertion by pointing to laws within the U.S. capital. “Non-residents can obtain a permit in DC — don’t ask me how I know,” he wrote on social media.
Ms. Pirro’s remarks could breach the alliance between the Republican Party and gun rights groups or, like Mr. Trump’s, be brushed off by pro-gun rights groups as a passing controversy. But that did not stop Democrats from seizing on it.
Representative Brendan Boyle, Democrat of Pennsylvania, said on social media that he was “Old enough to remember the ‘Obama is going to grab your guns’ hysteria. Turns out it was the Trump White House.”
Robert Jimison covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on defense issues and foreign policy.
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