SEE, THIS IS WHY WE NEED NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY: Ryan Shucard Case Highlights Gun Law Discrepancies.

Staff in Rep. Tom Marino’s office are convinced that Ryan Shucard, the press secretary that arrived at the Cannon House Office building toting a 9 mm handgun on Friday morning, was not planning to harm anyone with the gun.

“No, not at all,” said Bill Tighe, chief of staff for the two-term Pennsylvania Republican, said when asked if staff thought Shucard had ill intentions. Capitol Police also indicated it was an accident, according to Tighe.

Tighe said he was not formally aware that Shucard, a resident of Alexandria, Va., owned a gun. Shucard was hired by Marino’s office in late May. Tighe said he did not know whether Shucard, 26, was registered, trained or permitted to hold a gun in Virginia, where gun laws are less strict than in the District.

Similarly, Jason Kalafat, a partner at Price Benowitz LLP who has been hired to represent Shucard in D.C. court, had no comment on his client’s status as a gun owner in Virginia. He said there is no allegation that Shucard had the gun unlawfully, and pointed out that he is not being prosecuted for the federal offense of carrying on Capitol grounds, which carries up to five years in prison.

Kalafat said the difference between gun regulations in D.C. and Virginia creates a “big problem.”

Because the Capitol grounds are federal property, they are not subject to the District’s strict gun laws.

Also, we need a federal law providing that the maximum penalty for anyone legally entitled to possess firearms under federal law violating any state or local law on possession or carrying of weapons is a $500 fine. This would get rid of the sort of in terrorem regulation I describe in my Second Amendment Penumbras piece.