Senator says gun his after aide arrested

RICHMOND, Va. – Sen. Jim Webb admitted he owns a gun that an aide was arrested for carrying into the U.S. Capitol complex in March.

The Virginia Democrat previously had refused to say whether the gun was his, although his senior aide, Phillip Thompson, had told police the weapon belonged to Webb.

“It’s my gun,” Webb told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in a recent interview. But how and why it was in Thompson’s possession remains unclear. Webb said he didn’t give the gun to Thompson, “nor did I ask him to do anything with it.”

Thompson was arrested on an illegal handgun charge when he carried the loaded pistol and two loaded magazines in a briefcase into the Russell Senate office building. A federal prosecutor later dropped the charge.