Should Members of Congress Carry Guns?

After Wednesday’s shooting, some are calling for armed legislators. But it’s unlikely to make them any safer.

U.S. Capitol Police lock down the Capitol building after shots were fired at the visitor's center in Washington on Monday, March 28, 2016. A shooter was taken into custody, according to Capitol officials, and the White House was briefly locked down.

Photographer: T.J. Kirkpatrick
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The congressional shootings Wednesday prompted some Republicans to call for lawmakers to be armed. Would that be a good idea—more guns, less crime? Not necessarily.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana remained in critical condition after surgery to treat a gunshot wound to the hip. The attack in a Washington suburb by an apparently politically motivated shooter using a military-style, large-capacity rifle also left three others wounded. On the same day, on the other side of the nation, a man shot five co-workers—three of them fatally—at a United Parcel Service facility in San Francisco.