Newly sworn in Republican House member after Capitol riot: ‘I regret not bringing my gun to D.C.’

A Republican congressman from Michigan who was sworn in earlier this month said he feared for his life as supporters of President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol and wishes he would have been carrying a firearm after seeing what took place.  

“The illusion of security, of the sanctity of our constitutional order, collapsed. With guns drawn, police ordered us to evacuate, leading to chaos as we fled down corridors and into the tunnels beneath Capitol Hill. Several times our group of lawmakers found ourselves alone, with no police escort, fearful of what threats might lie around the next corner,” Rep. Peter Meijer wrote in the Detroit News over the weekend. “I have been called a traitor more times than I can count. I regret not bringing my gun to D.C.” 

Meijer, who was elected to represent the west Michigan district seat previously occupied by Republican-turned-Independent Rep. Justin Amash, also said that his colleagues who have excused Trump’s behavior since the election or given credence to his unproven claims of voter fraud are responsible for last week’s violence. 

“Blood has been spilled, and those who encouraged this insurrection are in too deep,” Meijer wrote. “Those of us who refused to cower, who have told the truth, have suffered the consequences. Republican colleagues who have spoken out have been accosted on the street, received death threats, and even assigned armed security.” 

Following a rally on White House Ellipse on Wednesday, a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol as a joint session of Congress met inside to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. 

In a break with dozens of his fellow House Republicans, Meijer has acknowledged Biden’s win. 

As part of a series of tweets late Sunday evening, he called Trump’s hesitation to condemn the rioters at the Capitol last week “unconscionable.”

“I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that the President of the United States was completely MIA while the next three individuals in the line of succession (VP, Speaker of House, Senate Pres Pro Tempore) were under assault in the Capitol,” he said. 

Meijer, who rallied with Vice President Pence just days before his win in November, also said the Republican Party has an important choice to make about its identity in a post-Trump political world. 

“It didn’t have to end like this, with five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer. This should be a moment of reckoning for the country as a whole, and the conservative movement in particular,” he wrote in the op-ed. “If the Republican party ever hopes to regain the public’s trust and lead the country forward after this heinous assault, it must first be honest with itself.”