WASHINGTON — Former Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terry Gainer wants to see an even larger pedestrian-only area east of the National Mall as a deterrent to car bombings and other forms of terrorism.

Gainer, who retired last month, told The Washington Post he thinks cars should be banned from more than a dozen square blocks from the the Capitol north to Union Station and east to Second Street.

He’d also put a fence around the Capitol Square.

He says safety needs to come first.

The Capitol Police Board has commissioned studies on Gainer’s proposals, but those studies have not been shared with the District yet.

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