Rivers of nonsense have flowed from the U.S. Congress lately.
But Larry Bucshon has dodged most of it. Unlike 126 of his fellow House Republicans, the 8th-District representative kept his name off a ludicrous brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn the 2020 election. And after the U.S. Capitol riot last week, he blamed President Trump for inciting the mob and ultimately voted to ratify the results of the Electoral College – even though he planned to cast a protest vote before the violence erupted.
On Tuesday, though, he landed in the national news for taking a different bizarre stance.
More: Bucshon changed his mind, while chaos at Capitol ensued, Young prepared for confrontation
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According to NBC News and several other outlets, Bucshon was among a number of GOP lawmakers who pitched a fit about Capitol security installing metal detectors at the entrance to the House floor. The order to do so apparently came from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“Members of Congress are not allowed to perform their duty to vote on behalf of their constituents without going through this ‘security’ checkpoint,” Bucshon said during a series of tweets. “(Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy) needs to formally protest.”
He went on to say the metal detectors did nothing less than violate his rights under Article 1, Section 6 of the U.S. Constitution. It says members of Congress are “privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any other place.”
That seems like a stretch to me, but unlike every living soul on social media, I’m not gonna pretend I’m a constitutional scholar.
Still, it’s odd to see Bucshon get angry about metal detectors. In 2018, he fervently supported the STOP School Violence Act, which called for “evidence-based strategies” to determine the “use of metal detectors and other deterrent measure(s)” to potentially protect students from school shootings. It's OK for kids to walk through metal detectors, but not him.
Horribly, some school systems may need security checkpoints. School shootings happen with nauseating regularity.
Last week proved that government buildings could become targets, too. On Sunday, the FBI warned that armed protests could descend on all 50 state capitals ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration. They're bracing for additional unrest in Washington, D.C., as well. In Indiana, lawmakers have drafted two bills that would limit protests outside of our statehouse.
Draconian security measures have hounded the U.S. for years now, all because we just can’t seem to stop killing and hurting one another.
Everyday citizens are used to them. We pass through metal detectors to enter the Ford Center or to board a plane. We stuff our belts and keys into bowls, and if we forget about a stray piece of metal in our pockets, we get wanded.
Now Congress-people are bristling over something normal people endure all the time, whining because they don't receive special treatment. But if more violence ignites in the next few days, we’re likely to see crackdowns everywhere. And they'll be a lot bigger than a stray metal detector.
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