> This could have led to the public execution of the Vice President and speaker of the house. This came close to being a dramatically worse event.
I remain unconvinced about how close that actually was, nor have I seen a compelling case that it was that close actually made.
Further, before it becomes close to "executing the Vice President", you can bet shots are going to actually be fired. Crowds of rioters behave very differently when gunshots start ringing out.
A single, fatal shot was fired for precisely that reason. And even then, I don't think it was anywhere near "executing the VP" but more like getting too close to the area where the politicians were being kept safe.
> A single, fatal shot was fired for precisely that reason.
The people most imminently in danger in that case, as I understand it, were staff in the Speakers Lobby, not members or the Vice President, who were in the chambers.
But as I understand the timeline, the attack, with defenders just on the other side with guns drawn and prepared to fire, on the doors to at least one of the chambers also were ongoing before members had been evacuated from the floor by another exit, so the incident at the Speakers Lobby came very close to being repeated where members were more immediately at risk.
> the attack, with defenders just on the other side with guns drawn and prepared to fire, on the doors to at least one of the chambers also were ongoing before members had been evacuated from the floor by another exit,
Do you have a source for this? I understand you to be saying that the picture we all saw (of the guns being drawn at a door within one of the chambers) occurred while there were still elected representatives in that chamber?
I’ll try to dig up something; I’ve seen a couple accounts from people in the chamber or galleries that seemed to suggest that (I think specifically the House chamber).
Far fewer lives were lost, but the impact and implications of this are on par.