Some quotes from the article which support the argument that people brought weapons to the Capitol on Jan 6, potentially for the purpose of carrying out an insurrection:
The chatter included reports of a man with an AR-15 in a tree on Constitution Avenue who was accompanied by two men with pistols on their hips. Another officer radioed, “I’ve got three men walking down the street in fatigues carrying AR-15s, copy, at 14th and Independence.”
the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, a Washington Post reporter watched as a group from Broward County, Fla., was stopped by D.C. police because people in the group were carrying large assault rifles. They said the guns were not loaded and were “just a symbol” of their Second Amendment rights. They were briefly detained but released once the guns were handed over to police.
officers were confiscating weapons illegally brought into the District starting Jan. 5 and encountered people brandishing gun parts in an intimidating manner. Accounts from police officers and rioters indicate that many firearms were spotted on Jan. 6 but were not seized as law enforcement focused more on defending the Capitol than on arresting gun-law violators. The alleged rioters who approached the Capitol on Jan. 6, four have been charged with taking guns onto the Capitol grounds, and two of those have been convicted.
U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman... has said that but for police restraint in the use of force, the riot “could have easily been a bloodbath,” a sentiment echoed by several officers on the witness stand in Jan. 6 criminal trials.
Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes
told his followers in a recorded online meeting in November 2020, according to court documents. “Pepper spray is legal. Tasers are legal, and stun guns are legal. And it doesn’t hurt to have a lead pipe.” An
armed group would stay in Virginia “awaiting the President’s orders ... then D.C. gun laws won’t matter,” Rhodes said in the meeting, according to court documents. Attorneys for Rhodes, who has pleaded not guilty to seditious conspiracy and other charges, said he and other defendants staged firearms hoping Trump would invoke the
Insurrection Act, transforming the Oath Keepers into a kind of militia to keep Trump in office.
a devoted follower of the radical QAnon ideology, drove toward the nation’s capital from Colorado on Jan. 6 with a rifle, a 9mm handgun, 2,500 rounds of ammunition and high-capacity magazines. In one text message, he told his family he was “gonna collect a … ton of Traitors heads.” But his truck broke down and he didn’t arrive until after the riot had ended. The next day, Meredith texted his family that he was considering “putting a bullet in her [Nancy Pelosi’s] noggin on live TV.”
Alt link to access article: https://web.archive.org/web/20220712043304/https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/08/jan6-defendants-guns/
An AP story intending to link Trump to the riot published some of the comments made by participants during court appearances. None of them stated that the event was planned. Indeed, most indicated they didn’t really know why they did it. They said they felt inspired by Trump’s comments and believed the election was fraudulent, but there was no organized or coordinated plan to attack the Capitol.