Politicians are calling for increased congressional security. 2 pols say they'll be armed back home

Several lawmakers are already changing their security arrangements in wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), and at least two lawmakers say they’ll now be packing firearms in public when they’re in their home districts.

Both Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) told POLITICO they will be carrying their guns in their home districts for protection. Both lawmakers hold a conceal and carry permit, but will not carry their weapons in the District of Columbia.


Shuler, who received a serious death threat in 2009, says he is planning to carry his weapon more often and boost security at his district events. He’s even encouraging his staffers to get their own conceal to carry permits.

“You never think something like this will happen, but then it does,” Shuler said “After the elections, I let my guard down. Now I know I need to have [my gun] on me. We’re going to need to do a much better job of with security at these events.”

The Capitol Police are also reassessing lawmaker security both in Washington and around the country.

Chaffetz said he’s also going to pursue whether U.S. Marshalls – who usually guard federal judges – could be expanded to guard members of Congress as well during district events.

“Perhaps they could better assess threats in the home district,” said Chaffetz, who praised the work of U.S. Capitol Police. “It certainly ought to be on the table.”

Chaffetz says he may ask local police officers to drop in on his town hall meetings more frequently.

Chaffetz recently contacted Capitol Police to investigate a man who was canvassing his Utah neighborhood, asking questions. Since yesterday, he’s also received several threatening messages on his Twitter account, which he’s asked the police to look into.

“It’s unfortunate that these things happen, but if you’ve been in Congress any amount of time, you know we often get various threats,” he said.

Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R-Calif.) district office is busy installing a touchable keypad in order to protect its district workers from unannounced visitors. Issa’s office was the target of a bomb plot back in 2001. Issa, a California Republican, has since had a threat assessment conducted on his offices, according to his spokesman Kurt Bardella.

“I think what you’re going to see is a combination of the Sergeant at Arms and Capitol Police work with congressional leadership to do more threat assessments for district offices,” Bardella said.

Other lawmakers are still assessing the situation.

“Our office has never considered having security for any Alabama public events in the past but this horrific tragedy definitely makes us think about it,” said Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) in a statement.

Other ideas to best prevent another shooting from occurring flew today among lawmakers and party officials as Washington continued to real from yesterday’s shooting.

The shooting might have been prevented had a police officer been there to stop the shooter, Howard Dean said Sunday, suggesting that local law enforcement could be used as a cheap means of protection when lawmakers visit their districts.

“You don’t have to be trained the same way the Capitol Police and the Secret Service are,” Dean, the former governor of Vermont, said on MSNBC. “Had there been a local Tucson police officer at the scene, that might have made the difference.”

Rep. Mike Capuano (D-Mass.) says he’s not changing his lifestyles – even if Capitol security changes.

“Even if they gave us each a body guard many of us wouldn’t take it, including myself,” said Capuano, who installed a home security system in his Massachusetts home the year he was elected to Congress. “The Capitol is pretty secure as far as I know, but when you’re out in the street there’s really not much you can do. We all know there nuts out there.”

A spokeswoman for U.S. Capitol Police said this morning that the department is still advising members to take “reasonable and prudent precautions” and remain on heightened alert with a “robust” officer presence around the Capitol.

“There are no immediate or actionable threats to members or the Capitol complex,” Senate Sergeant at Arms Terry Gainer told POLITICO.

In the meantime, Capitol security officials are actively examining how to increase security for members, he said.

“We are reviewing our methods by which we can support and make more secure the members and their staff as they go about their business,” Gainer said. “The shooting in Tucson is indirectly related to Capitol in an obvious way, some of the victims are members of our community. The Capitol remains on its continued state of readiness.”

A conference call is scheduled today with U.S. Capitol Police, the House Sergeant at Arms Office and House members and spouses.