ATLANTA — A Georgia congressman said he is defending the Constitution by challenging whether members of Congress should pass through metal detectors at the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde of Athens is causing a stir – just weeks after getting sworn into Congress for the first time from his district in northeast Georgia.
"House Resolution 703 is a direct violation of the constitution," said Rep. Clyde in an interview with 11Alive. Clyde is a Republican who owns a gun store in Athens.
The January resolution requires that members of Congress pass through a metal detector outside the House chamber.
"When something violates the constitution, people have to stand up for the constitution," said Clyde, who points to Article One Section 6 of the constitution, which in part says lawmakers “shall be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the session… and in going to and returning from the same.”
Clyde said that means, no metal detector should stop him from entering the House chamber.
"This is also an opportunity for (Democratic House Speaker US Rep.) Nancy Pelosi to message that we as Republicans are dangerous. We are not dangerous. We’re not a threat."
11Alive's Doug Richards asked Clyde if Democrats had to pass through the magnetometers, too. He had this to say:
"It’s interesting that you say that. The House administration wrote a letter to the sergeant at arms specifically noting that speaker Pelosi did not pass through the magnetometers on February 4 at approximately 9:59 a.m. and she did not get fined. So there’s also an unequal application," he claimed.
Below is more of the question and answer exchange.
Q: I know you’re a second amendment enthusiast. Are you trying to carry a firearm onto the House floor yourself?
A: I never have.
Q: If you don’t have any metal on your person, you can pass through a magnetometer pretty unimpeded, right?
A: I don’t know anyone who can pass through a magnetometer with a cell phone, OK? And not have the magnetometer go off.
Q: I put the cell phone in a basket when I go through a magnetometer.
A: Right, but it’s not about going through the magnetometer or not going through the magnetometer. This is not about firearms at all. This is about the Constitution and defending the Constitution.
Rep. Clyde has been fined $15,000 for violating the requirement. He did that, he said, to give him legal standing to challenge the House metal detectors in court.
Clyde said he was in the House chamber Jan. 6 when rioters entered the Capitol. In fact, Clyde said he was among the members who put a bench in front of the center aisle doors of the House to keep the rioters out of the chamber. Rioters breached the Senate chamber but not the House.
Clyde was among a dozen Republicans who voted against giving to Capitol Police a congressional gold medal for defending the Capitol that day. Clyde said the building's security was breached because police failed to lead.
"I also had problems with the wording of that (resolution), where it called the folks who rioted in the capitol 'insurrectionists.' That’s not correct. They were not insurrectionists at all. There were bad actors there. They were rioters. They were not insurrectionists," Clyde said.
More than a hundred Republicans voted in favor of the resolution, with whom Clyde said he "agreed to disagree."