A GOP congressman sparked a furious exchange after claiming Democrats could be responsible for federal agents being killed while trying to enforce gun restrictions.
The fracas erupted as Rep. Clay Higgins, of Louisiana, questioned how gun reform could be implemented safely during a hearing of the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.
“Will it be argued in court or will it be settled on the front porch of Americans when the FBI and the ATF shows up to seize legally-owned weapons from law-abiding American citizens?
“That’s what you’re setting up,” Mr Higgins said, adding he was “passionate” about Second Amendment rights.
The statement drew an angry response from Democratic committee member Gerald Connolly, who said he could match Mr Higgins’ passion with his own.
“We will not be threatened with violence and bloodshed because we want reasonable gun control,” the Virginia lawmaker said.
The pair continued to argue as Mr Higgins demanded that the Democrat retract his statement.
“You pointed at me and said I was threatening you,” Mr Higgins said.
After an intervention by Democratic committee chair Carolyn Maloney and ranking GOP member James Comer, Mr Connolly was asked if he would retract.
“I heard the gentleman from Louisiana say that blood would be on our hands if we attempted to pass legislation that could yield to his imagination apparently of FBI agents and ATF agents, going to their porch to take away their weapons,” he said.
The argument was resolved when Mr Higgins, a reserve law enforcement officer, said he would withdraw his request to have the words stricken from the record.
“He’s my friend and colleague, we disagree from time to time sometimes passionately, but I accept the gentleman’s tone.”
House Democrats are attempting to pass a ban on assault-rifles after a string of deadly shootings involving AR-15s in Uvalde, Texas, Buffalo, New York and Highland Park, Illinois, on Independence Day.
Last month, Joe Biden signed the first major piece of federal gun reform legislation in three decades into law.
The law expanded federal background checks so that firearms retailers will be obliged to examine the state and local juvenile and mental health records of prospective customers aged 18 to 20.
