U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said Feb. 3 that people must follow the law in the District of Columbia with regard to carrying firearms.
“Let me be clear: I am a proud supporter of the Second Amendment. Washington, D.C., law requires handguns be licensed in the District with the Metropolitan Police Department to be carried into our community,” Pirro said on X. “We are focused on individuals who are unlawfully carrying guns and will continue building on that momentum to keep our communities safe.”
Pirro on Monday said during an appearance on her former network Fox News that people who carry guns in the nation’s capital would be arrested.
“You bring a gun into the district, you mark my words, you’re going to jail,” she said at the time. “I don’t care if you have a license in another district, and I don’t care if you’re a law-abiding gun owner somewhere else.”
District of Columbia law lets people with valid registration carry a gun within their home, for “lawful recreational purposes,” inside their place of business, and in transit as long as local and federal law are followed. The registration process is available for rifles, shotguns, revolvers, and handguns.
The National Association for Gun Rights, which advocates for Second Amendment rights, was among the critics of Pirro’s remarks.
“Jeanine Pirro threatening to arrest people for carrying in D.C., even if they are law-abiding and licensed, shows how broken and out of touch these gun laws are,” it said in a social media post. “Unacceptable and intolerable comments by a sitting U.S. attorney.”
Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) said on X that he carries a gun into the district every week, challenging authorities to “come and take it!” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) indicated that he’s among the non-residents who have obtained a permit in the district.
President Donald Trump and other administration officials have also recently made comments about guns that have drawn criticism from some gun owners, including FBI Director Kash Patel, who said people cannot bring firearms loaded with multiple magazines to protests.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump “supports the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding American citizens.”
She also said, “While Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, Americans do not have a constitutional right to impede lawful immigration enforcement operations.”
Pirro, who was selected by Trump, on Tuesday responded to a X user who said that Second Amendment rights shall not be infringed.
“We need to follow the law,” she said. “If we don’t like it, we need to change it.”
