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Rep. Lauren Boebert Sticks To Her Guns On Zoom Call And Social Media

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This article is more than 3 years old.

Earlier this week Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) was called out by her Democratic colleagues. Comments surfaced after a number of firearms placed on display in her home office and served as a background during a Zoom call with the National Resources Committee. The choice of placing the firearms so prominently was certainly planned on Boebert's part as the meeting was to discuss the issue of firearms and other weapons on Capitol grounds.

Rep. Boebert has gained national attention for her support of the Second Amendment, and has been vocal about her desire to carry her firearms in Washington, D.C. and even on Capitol Hill. She gained fame after confronting then Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke during his campaign stop in Aurora, Colorado.

Boebert told O'Rourke, "I was one of the gun owning Americans who heard you speak regarding your 'Hell yes I'm going to take your AR-15s and AK-47s.' Well, I'm here to say hell no you're not." In the months that followed O'Rourke's White House run faded, while Boebert then threw her hat in the ring, positioning herself as a conservative alternative to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

"Why does anyone think that they can cherry pick the Second Amendment and say this is the one enumerated right that we can take away from people," Boebert questioned during last Thursday's committee meeting.

However, it was the display of the firearms more than the words that was at issue for Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) who responded, "If somebody wants to have a shrine to their gun fetish as a Zoom backdrop in their private life, they can do that. But this is our hearing room and at some point we will get past the COVID epidemic and we'll all start showing up in person and our safety and our ability to conduct business civilly, without feeling threatened, is a relevant consideration, unfortunately."

Social Media Response

It didn't take long for the Colorado congresswoman to be called out across social media, but she was as quick on the keyboard as she might be on the draw of a gun. When Rep. Boerbert was called out for "unsafe storage" and even dubbed a "fascist fraulein," she was quick with her response, "Who says this is storage? These are ready for use."

When another user displayed "menstrual products" when calling out the Boebert, the Congresswoman hit back with some more humor, "Why didn't you include products for the other 57 genders? Pretty sexist."

Other users also tried their hand at humor, including @MarkEllison06 who shared his collection of phallic art.

However, not everyone found humor in the issue of the firearms that were placed behind Boebert. Many tried to "educate" her on safe firearms practice. Among those was Pulse Nightclub shooting survivor Brandon Wolf (@Bjoewolf), "If my grandmother caught Dad leaving a gun around like that, she'd knock him into last week."

Likewise, early challenger Kerry Donovan (@KerryDonovanCO) called out Rep. Boebert on social media as well, suggesting "Real toughness isn't displaying guns on a bookshelf. It's getting things done for people."

Liam O'Mara (@LiamOMaraIV), who also ran for Congress last year, shared his feelings on the matter and posted, "The first thing I learnt about gun safety, both in @boyscouts and from family, was to treat them with respect, as though always loaded & deadly — never pointed at anyone or left unattended. @laurenboebert seems to've thought this would look cool to her fans, and that's just sad."

Of course, it could be noted that O'Mara's argument falls short – as the firearms weren't pointed at anyone and didn't seem to be unattended. As for this being her office, few have questioned as to whether it is locked when she isn't in it, which would essentially be a safe place to keep the firearms.

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