Sen. Jim Webb asserted today he has a right to defend himself in the face of terrorist threats but declined to comment about his aide's arrest for carrying a loaded gun into the U.S. Capitol.
The Virginia Democrat, a freshman who has been in office since January, described the arrest as "enormously unfortunate" but did not apologize.
"It's important for me personally and for a lot of people in the situation that I am in, to be able to defend myself and my family. Since 9/11, for people who are in government, I think in general there has been an agreement that it's more, a more dangerous time," Webb told reporters. "I'm not again, I'm not going to comment again with great specificity about how I defend myself, but I do feel that I have that right."
Phillip Thompson, a longtime friend of Webb's and an aide to the politician since he began his campaign a year ago, was arraigned this afternoon on the charge of carrying a pistol without a license and being in possession of an unregistered firearm and unregistered ammunition. He was arrested following the incident Monday morning and released yesterday from jail on the promise to return May 1 to D.C. Superior Court, according to press accounts.
U.S. Capitol Police detained Thompson, a former Marine, after a bag he carried into a Senate office building was found to contain a loaded handgun and two fully loaded magazines.
Webb explained he was in New Orleans when Thompson was arrested and said, "I did not give the weapon" to him.
He declined to get specific, but mentioned that three cars "were being moved about because of my trip and that is probably a reason this inadvertent situation developed."
"He's a fine individual," Webb said. "I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. I think this is one of those very unfortunate situations where completely inadvertently he took the weapon into the Senate yesterday."
When asked, Webb said, "I have never carried a gun in the Capitol complex."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada declined to comment, but said, "I'm confident everyone recognizes that he made a mistake."
Webb noted that Congressional leaders and members of the executive branch get protection units, adding: "We are required to defend ourselves, and I choose to do so."
During Webb's campaign against Republican Sen. George Allen last year, the National Rifle Association told its 100,000 Virginia members that it strongly endorsed Allen with an "A-plus" rating, even though Mr. Webb has an "A" rating from the gun rights group.
He insisted today he supports Virginia's gun laws as "fair," and said, "Wherever you see laws that allow people to carry, generally the violence goes down."
-- Christina Bellantoni, Capitol Hill reporter, The Washington Times