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PHOENIX — The president of the state Senate said Friday he sees nothing wrong with lawmakers bringing loaded weapons into the building.

Tim Bee, a Tucson Republican, said he believes armed legislators actually have been around for a number of years — at least since a 1994 state law authorized people to legally carry concealed weapons. Bee said his predecessors never made an issue of it.

But Bee acknowledged it was a sort of "don't ask/don't tell" policy. He said it was not until Sen. Karen Johnson, R-Mesa, said Thursday that she carries her .22-caliber revolver into the building each day that anyone asked about the practice.

"We have members who stay late at night," Bee said, including women. "Obviously they feel that carrying their gun with them makes them feel safe."

Victor Riches, Bee's chief of staff, said it is not illegal for his boss to allow lawmakers to carry loaded weapons into the building.

He said a state law prohibiting individuals from having firearms in public buildings is "optional," permitting the operator of a public building to ban guns by both posting a sign at the entrance and providing a place for visitors to check their weapons.

The Senate does both. In fact, anyone else who comes in the building is required to check weapons at the door.

That disparate treatment is appropriate, said Bee.

"The reason for putting them (the guns) in the lockers is, we don't know who is coming into the building," he said.

The weapons policy across the courtyard is different. Barrett Marson, spokesman for House Speaker Jim Weiers, said no one is allowed to bring a weapon into that building.

That policy lets the speaker "authorize exceptions … as deemed appropriate to the circumstances."

Marson said Weiers has not granted any exceptions. That includes the speaker himself, who has a permit to carry a concealed weapon but does not bring it into the building.

The issue of weapons in buildings calls into question whether there is sufficient security. There are no metal detectors in either the House or Senate buildings, and most guards are unarmed.

Riches said the Senate is exploring several security changes, including requiring visitors to pass through a metal detector. But Marson said Weiers does not see that as an option.