HARRISBURG — Leaders of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives have quietly decided to strip the chamber’s uniformed guards of their firearms, reversing a controversial policy instituted more than six years ago, a newspaper reported.

The report says the decision was made after discovering one of the 16 guards had been carrying a gun for years despite a criminal history. The paper, citing House records and interviews, said that security officer was fired in early May and three people who supervised him resigned shortly afterward. Top House officials declined comment on the matter.

Security guards for the state Senate do not carry weapons, and the legislative complex is already protected by Capitol police force, whose accredited officers receive training in firearms, emergency management, hazardous materials and riot control.

“We are the first line of defense,” said Dave DeLellis, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 85, which represents Capitol police officers and has raised concerns about armed state House guards. “That is part of the core function we provide in the Capitol, and we consider ourselves to be the best at it.”

In January 2006, the House’s five-member Bipartisan Management Committee, made up of legislative leaders from both parties, decided to issue the guards 357-caliber handguns. The move, which came just after lawmakers passed an unpopular pay raise, drew criticism as evidence that legislators were afraid of public outrage.

According to the job description of the House’s security guards, they are to protect people and property in the rooms and other spaces occupied by the chamber, along with investigating complaints, accidents and suspicious people or behavior.