Politics

U.S. House OKs Young-sponsored bill allowing gun displays in new police museum

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Tuesday passed a bill sponsored by Alaska Rep. Don Young allowing the new National Law Enforcement Museum to use guns in its displays.

The bill allows the museum, scheduled to open in Washington in October, to "acquire, receive, possess, collect, ship, transport, import, and display firearms."

It passed by a bipartisan voice vote.

"H.R. 1417 is a simple, straightforward bill that will treat the National Law Enforcement Museum as if it were a federal museum for purposes of obtaining, transferring and displaying certain classes of firearms," Young said in a statement.

The museum is otherwise limited in the types of firearms it can collect under current law, according to a memo from the House Natural Resources Committee.

The bill amends legislation passed in 2000 to create the new museum — ferried through Senate committees by then-Alaska Sen. Frank Murkowski.

The museum is designed to provide a historical look at U.S. law enforcement and will include a memorial for officers who have died in the line of duty.

Erica Martinson

Erica Martinson is a former reporter for the Anchorage Daily News based in Washington, D.C.

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