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Rep. Boebert clashes with police after setting off metal detector in Capitol building

A pistol-packing member of Congress set off a suddenly installed metal detector in the US Capitol — and refused to let cops look through her purse.

Freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) was denied entrance to the House chamber during the Tuesday night incident. She later entered the chamber under circumstances that remain unclear.

The new metal detectors were installed at entrances to the House floor this week after Boebert said publicly she would bring a Glock into the chamber, alarming Democrats.

Boebert’s stand against the metal detectors was backed by Republican colleagues — some of whom simply walked around the detectors on Tuesday night, before briskly walking through them without stopping Wednesday to vote on President Trump’s second impeachment.

Boebert was less conspicuous Wednesday during the impeachment proceedings, but her conservative peers Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) breezed through the detectors. They blinked red, but Roy and Massie kept walking.

After voting against impeaching Trump, Massie told The Post, “it’s not constitutional” to have metal detectors screening legislators. He cited “the part [of the Constitution] that says you can’t be stopped coming or going, you can’t be detained coming or going from the House. It just says that, very specifically. And fortunately they know that. Just the sergeant at arms doesn’t know that.”

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U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) is temporarily stopped by Capitol Police as she passes through metal detectors at a new security checkpoint outside the House floor during debate on a resolution demanding Vice President Pence and the cabinet remove President Trump from office
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) is stopped by Capitol Police as she passes through metal detectors at a new security checkpoint outside the House floor.REUTERS
U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) departs after voting on a resolution demanding Vice President Pence and the cabinet remove President Trump from office
Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) departs after voting on a resolution demanding Vice President Pence and the cabinet remove President Trump from office.REUTERS
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Roy said Tuesday night, “The metal detector policy for the House floor is unnecessary, unconstitutional, and endangers members. I did not comply tonight. I will not comply in the future.”A Democrat, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, also breezed through a metal detector on Wednesday as though it was not there. But she did not set off the machine. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wasn’t prepared to give in to the dissenters.
Shortly after noon, Pelosi (D-Calif.) walked through one of the new metal detectors and noted a gap of about four feet between the machine and the doorframe. She asked that the machine be moved to make it impossible for anyone to circumvent it.
Capitol Police instead put tables on either side of the metal detector to force legislators through the machine.

After she was blocked from entering the House on Tuesday, Boebert, a fierce gun rights advocatetweeted, “I am legally permitted to carry my firearm in Washington, D.C. and within the Capitol complex.”

Boebert also said the metal detectors installed at entrances to the House chamber earlier Tuesday “would not have stopped the violence we saw last week,” when supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol.

She called the added security measure “just another political stunt” by Pelosi.

One Democrat, New York Rep. Grace Meng, essentially agreed, tweeting Tuesday, “This isn’t really helpful in terms of potential future rioters but it’s actually to help protect us from our own colleagues.”

In a Tuesday afternoon statement announcing the new metal detectors, acting House Sergeant-at-Arms Timothy Blodgett reminded lawmakers that firearms are forbidden inside the chamber.

“Failure to complete screening or the carrying of prohibited items could result in denial of access to the Chamber,” he added.

Blodgett was sworn in on Monday to replace Paul Irving, who resigned as the House sergeant-at-arms following the deadly Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol.