Colorado Republican Representative Lauren Boebert was harshly criticized after she attempted to use the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 to argue against gun control in the wake of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Boebert, speaking after a gunman murdered 19 children and two teachers, said gun control won't limit mass shootings because “when 9/11 happened, we didn’t ban planes.”
Boebert insisted she wants "our schools secured," to see "our children protected," and for there to be "teachers that can protect themselves and their students," adding all of this can be achieved "without trying to disarm law-abiding citizens.”
You can hear what Boebert said in the video below.
Boebert is incorrect to suggest that there was no regulation after the September 11 attacks. For starters, flights across the United States were immediately grounded and the skies were empty for days.
After the attacks, then-President George W. Bush, a Republican, signed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, which created the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The law required that all checked baggage be screened, that cockpit doors be reinforced, and that more federal air marshals be on flights.
The TSA has run into numerous controversies since, with some of its mandates being referred to as "security theater," such as the full-body scanners the agency eventually scrapped amid considerable outcry from passengers who said the devices, which produced realistic looking images, amounted to a "virtual strip search."
All in all, the years after the attacks have seen more security and less privacy when traveling by air.
Boebert was swiftly criticized for her remarks, with many pointing out that the United States moved quickly to regulate the skies in the wake of the most devastating act of terror on American soil.
Boebert has long stood against gun control.
Last year, after Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie was criticized for tweeting a family photo in which he and six family members each brandished a military-style weapon in front of a Christmas tree, Boebert responded to Massie's photo with a picture of her four equally armed children.
"The Boeberts have your six," Boebert tweeted to Massie, using a military saying that means, "I've got your back" even though neither politician has military experience.
Boebert was criticized in September after a TikTok video emerged showing her 8-year-old son playing alone next to her rifle.
The since-deleted video showed Boebert's son playing with cigarette lighters while left alone in a bedroom. Mere feet away was one of the Congresswoman's rifles, propped up against a bedframe.
The images were reviewed by Salon, which noted that the bedroom appears to be the same one Boebert used during her February Zoom video call with the House Natural Resources Committee.
During that call, Boebert showed viewers that the room has a bookshelf displaying several high-capacity rifles.
Boebert has previously claimed to be a "responsible gun owner."
She and her husband own Shooters Grill, a restaurant in Rifle, Colorado, where staff members are encouraged to openly carry firearms.
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