H.R. 1749 — Safe Storage Lockers for House Office Buildings Act

This section designates the Act as the “Safe Storage Lockers for House Office Buildings Act” and states congressional findings that (1) the District of Columbia had 3,469 violent crime incidents in 2024; (2) House employees who work in House Office Buildings often commute on foot and have been crime victims; (3) District law authorizes carrying self-defense sprays, stun guns, and concealed firearms; and (4) federal and District law prohibit such weapons in federal buildings, disarming those employees at work.

This section authorizes an employee of the House of Representatives to bring a self-defense weapon into a House office building for storage in a U.S. Capitol Police locker if (1) the employee is authorized under D.C. law to carry the weapon outside the building, (2) the employee is carrying it in compliance with D.C. law immediately prior to entry, (3) the employee enters through an external pedestrian entrance, (4) the employee stores the weapon in the locker while in the building, and (5) the employee retrieves the weapon and leaves immediately. Weapons eligible for this authorization include (1) a self-defense spray (D.C. Official Code sec. 7–2502.12), (2) a stun gun (D.C. Official Code sec. 7–2501.01(17A)), and (3) a firearm (D.C. Official Code sec. 7–2501.01(9)).

This section directs the Capitol Police Board, not later than 180 days after enactment, to design, install, and operate storage lockers at external pedestrian entrances to each House office building for House employees to safely store weapons brought into the building under section 2 and retrieve them upon leaving. It further requires the Board to promulgate implementing regulations and amends 40 U.S.C. §5104(e)(1)(A)—which generally prohibits firearms in Capitol buildings—by inserting an exception for provisions of this Act.

This section defines, for purposes of the Act, (1) "employee of the House of Representatives" to include interns (paid or unpaid) and fellows assigned to a House office; and (2) "House office building" to mean the Cannon, Longworth, Rayburn, Ford, and O’Neill House Office Buildings and the House wing of the United States Capitol (excluding any garage of those buildings).