Cosgrove said he had clipped the new holster next to his pants instead of his belt. He estimated he had lost possession of the gun, which was loaded, for about 20 minutes before it was returned to him.

“It was a good lesson for me to make sure I wore it right,” Cosgrove said.

Wexton saw a slightly different lesson.

“A lot of people in the General Assembly seem to think that more guns are the answer to everything, and then one of my fellow legislators carelessly leaves a gun sitting in the middle of a public place,” she said.

“It makes me concerned, and there seems to be a disconnect.”

The incident appeared to have been kept largely under wraps. Wexton said she immediately showed her find to the subcommittee, presented her bill and left, unsure of what happened to the gun.

Capt. Ronald C Maxey Jr. of Virginia State Police was in the room and offered to return it to Cosgrove.

Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for Virginia State Police, said Thursday that Maxey did not realize that the item contained a firearm and did not return it to Cosgrove. “He didn’t even know what it was,” she said.