Capitol Police Keep Leaving Loaded Glocks in Bathrooms

Photo: Martin Barraud/Getty Images

A new Roll Call report shows that Capitol Police officers apparently have a hard time remembering to not leave their Glocks in the bathroom. There have been several instances of Capitol employees or tourists stumbling upon loaded firearms.

On January 29, a Capitol Visitors Center employee found a Glock stuck in a toilet-seat-cover holder. It had been left behind by someone in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s security detail. In March, a 7- or 8-year-old found a loaded gun in a bathroom in Speaker John Boehner’s suite. A janitor stumbled upon another Glock while cleaning the Capitol Police headquarters in April.

Capitol Police are not required to report every incident like this, so Roll Call was unable to say how many times this has happened — although a few officers recalled other instances of forgetful colleagues.

This is not a problem unique to federal government. In 2013, a staffer at the Missouri House of Representative left a loaded gun behind on top of a toilet-paper dispenser. A security guard left a gun behind in a public bathroom at the Oklahoma State Capitol last year.

Capitol Police Keep Leaving Glocks in Bathrooms