NY Congressman's Communications Director Arrested with Loaded Magazines at House Office Building

Upstate New York Democratic Representative Joe Morelle has fired his communications director, 38-year-old Michael Hopkins after the staffer was arrested Monday morning for bringing firearm magazines and ammunition into the US House office building. Capitol Police searched the staffer’s bag after it was observed on an X-ray machine, ultimately finding four loaded magazines, according to reports.

“He is facing charges for unlawful possession of ammunition, including one charge for possession of a high-capacity magazine,” said a Capitol Police representative who added that Hopkins “told the officers that he forgot the ammunition was in the bag.”

Congressman Morelle’s chief of staff, Jo Stiles, released an official statement following the arrest stating that their office was aware of the incident and cooperating with authorities.

"This morning, our office was informed that a member of our staff was arrested by Capitol Police. We are currently gathering more information regarding the circumstances of the arrest. Our office is fully committed to cooperating with the investigation. As Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration, Congressman Morelle is devoted to ensuring a safe and secure workplace for all.”

In a statement later that same day, Stiles confirmed that Hopkins had been fired.

“In response to this morning’s incident, Mr. Hopkins is no longer employed by Representative Morelle’s office effective immediately,” Styles said on Monday afternoon.

Congressman Joe Morelle, a former state assemblyman, was elected to the House in 2018 and represents parts of Western New York. He recently gained headlines as one of the first Democrats to speak out against President Joe Biden running for re-election. Joined by Representatives Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Adam Smith (D-Wash.), and Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Morelle feared Biden would lose to Donald Trump and called for the sitting President to drop out of the 2024 race. How’d that work out guys? As a confessed lover of irony, it does not escape me that Mr. Hopkins has now found a place under the proverbial bus he helped Congressman Morelle pilot. Morelle, no friend to the Second Amendment, is “proud to co-sponsor” many gun control measures, including an assault weapons ban, a ban on magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, a three-day waiting period before a person may receive a gun after purchase, and red flag laws. One must wonder how a citizen is taken into police custody and terminated from employment in a country with such a clear and concise right to bear arms. I’ll admit fleeting pleasure watching them eat their own, however, at the end of the day, Mr. Hopkins is a citizen with a right, like the rest of us. Our loyalty at Firearms News is to the United States of America and to the Constitution, which does not permit us to allow political differences to permeate our values and what we believe in. That being said, this arrest and subsequent firing of Mr. Hopkins violates his Constitutional rights, for which I hope he is acquitted and compensated. Most of all, I pray he gains perspective on for whom he worked and to what end. 

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