DC Delegate: Ban Guns Near Obama

Says pistol-packers too close; Secret Service says not an issue

By Mat Probasco, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 20, 2009 6:20 AM CDT

Copied

DC Delegate: Ban Guns Near Obama — William Kostnic wears a 9mm pistol as he stands outside a town hall meeting on health care held by President Barack Obama, in Portsmouth, NH. (AP Photo/Joel Page, File)

Washington DC's congressional delegate is watching gun-toting protesters outside venues where Barack Obama speaks, and she's not gonna take it anymore, reports The Hill. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton—whose constituency last year had its handgun ban tossed by the Supreme Court—wants guns banned in the president's vicinity, and is calling for Homeland Security and the Secret Service to flex their muscles.

If feds can clear airspace around Air Force One, Norton says, they can certainly clear weapons far closer to the president. Secret Service officials shrug, however, and insist Obama was not in danger during the incidents in Arizona and New Hampshire. "Those guys were outside of the outer-most perimeter of security, so what would apply is state law,” says a spokesman. “They never had any proximity to the president at any time."
(More Barack Obama stories.)

Report an error