Webb Denies He Gave Aide Gun That Led to Arrest
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
AP
Sen. Jim Webb, whose aide was arrested Monday for carrying a handgun into a Senate office building, gave the Democratic response to President Bush's State of the Union address in January.
WASHINGTON â€" Virginia Sen. Jim Webb said Tuesday he did not give to his aide the gun that led to the aide's arrest in a Senate office building. Webb did not say whether it was his gun.
Phillip Thompson is awaiting arraignment in D.C. Superior Court after being arrested Monday for trying to enter the Russell Senate Office Building, where Webb's office is located, carrying a loaded pistol and two fully loaded magazines.
The judge will determine whether Thompson, 45, will have to pay bail to get out of jail, and will set a date for a preliminary hearing. Thompson spent the night in a D.C. jail after U.S. Capitol Police determined Monday that he did not have a permit to carry a gun in Washington, D.C., where only law enforcement officials are allowed to carry handguns.
He is charged with carrying a pistol without a license and possession of an unregistered firearm and unregistered ammunition. According to the court docket, Monday was Thompson's birthday.
A senior Democratic aide said Monday evening that Thompson forgot that he had the weapon when he sent the senator's bag through the X-ray machine at the office building. The aide said Webb gave the bag that contained the gun to Thompson when the aide drove the senator to the airport.
Webb said he has been in New Orleans since Friday and returned Monday night. He denied that he gave the weapon to Thompson.
"We had three cars on Friday that were being moved about because of my trip, and that is probably a reason that this inadvertent situation developed. And that's really the extent to which I think I should be discussing. That's really all I can say," he said, adding that he couldn't talk about the case because of the legal proceedings and his desire not to prejudice the situation.
But Webb did shoot down rumors that he carries a gun in the Capitol complex.
"I believe that it's important â€" it's important for me, personally, and for a lot of people in the situation that I'm in, to be able to defend myself and my family," Webb said. "Since 9/11 for people who are in government I think in general there has been an agreement that it's a more dangerous time. 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."
Thompson, a former military reporter based in Virginia, joined the senator's staff at the beginning of Webb's Senate campaign. Webb was elected to office in November. Thompson travels frequently with the senator.
Asked what support the senator was giving to his aide, Webb told FOX News, "We're doing all we can."
"I want to emphasize, first of all, that Phillip Thompson is a long-time friend. He's a fine individual. ... I have a tremendous amount of respect for him," Webb told reporters. "I think this is one of those very unfortunate situations where, completely inadvertently, he took the weapon into the Senate yesterday."
Handguns are illegal in Washington, D.C., but nearby Virginia allows residents to carry concealed handguns. Capitol Police rules allow members and their employees to bring a weapon onto Capitol grounds if it is unloaded and securely wrapped. In this case, it was allegedly neither.
Webb said he is a big supporter of the constitutional right to bear arms and thinks Virginia's concealed handgun law is a "fair law."
"Everyone here knows that I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, that I have had a permit to carry a weapon in Virginia for a long time," he said.
