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Virginia Legislator Loses Loaded Handgun in State Capitol Building

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A Virginia state senator says she found a colleague's loaded handgun unattended on a chair in a conference room in the General Assembly building.

State Sen. Jennifer Wexton, a Democrat, tells the Richmond Times-Dispatch she found the holstered gun on Monday. She says she showed the gun to members of a subcommittee, and a state trooper there returned the weapon to its owner, Republican State Sen. John Cosgrove Jr.

Cosgrove tells the Times-Dispatch that he had clipped the new holster next to his pants instead of his belt. He says he lost possession of the gun for about 20 minutes, and the weapon didn't have a bullet in the chamber and the safety was on.

The Times-Dispatch reports that Cosgrove has long had a concealed-carry permit.

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.