Freshman GOP Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert sparked outrage this week after publishing a viral ad vowing to pack her firearm to Capitol Hill.
“I walk to my office every morning by myself, so as a 5-foot-tall, 100-pound woman, I choose to protect myself legally, because I am my best security,” Boebert said in the ad released last weekend. After the remarkable police failure to protect the U.S. Capitol building Wednesday, Boebert’s point was well proven.
Let me tell you why I WILL carry my Glock to Congress.
Government does NOT get to tell me or my constituents how we are allowed to keep our families safe.
I promise to always stand strong for our 2nd Amendment rights.https://t.co/E75tYpdN4B pic.twitter.com/qg7QGenrNo
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) January 4, 2021
Capitol police began ordering evacuations of the House office buildings Wednesday afternoon as rioters breached the Capitol barriers, eventually flooding the complex. Some members barricaded themselves in offices located within buildings that weren’t subject to evacuation, while members on the chamber floor were instructed to lie down and don gas masks as agents stood at the doors with their weapons drawn. Several hid in the House Gallery.
Police officers drew their guns inside the House chamber on Wednesday after a pro-Trump mob broke into the Capitol building and thousands swarmed the steps outside. https://t.co/SLrckdWNJR pic.twitter.com/q8kFvossFk
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 6, 2021
This photo breaks my heart.
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., comforts Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., while taking cover as protesters disrupt the joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote.
(Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images) pic.twitter.com/meMacsalq0
— Haley Britzky (@halbritz) January 6, 2021
The House floor was ultimately breached by demonstrators.
They’re in the chamber. One is up on the dais yelling “Trump won that election!” This is insane pic.twitter.com/p6CXhBDSFT
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) January 6, 2021
One woman was shot amid the chaos inside the Capitol halls and died hours later.
The stunning display of militant lawlessness overwhelming congressional security at the seat of the nation’s government could not provide better vindication for Boebert’s decision to carry in the Capitol. Yet she was mocked by gun-control advocates for daring to exercise her Second Amendment right to self-protection.
Democrats launched an effort to ban firearms carried by members of Congress in December after Boebert first approached Capitol Police over gun guidelines at new member orientation. About two-dozen Democrats, according to The Hill, sought to strike a 1967 exemption from D.C. gun laws permitting lawmakers to carry. Although the effort ultimately failed, the D.C. chief of police issued a warning to Boebert if the freshman congresswoman, who leapt into the political arena with a brand tied to gun-rights, followed through on her promise to bring her Glock to the Capitol.
“That Congresswoman will be subjected to the same penalties as anyone else that’s caught on the D.C. streets carrying a firearm,” Washington, D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee III told reporters Monday. Of course, two days later, Boebert’s demands for self-protection became validated when Capitol Police were caught completely unprepared to hold back thousands of mob protestors officials had known for weeks were coming as the historic day certifying results in the Electoral College approached.
