Colorado Republican Representative Lauren Boebert was criticized after she claimed people in Venezuela eat dogs "because they do not have firearms."
During an interview with Newsmax, Boebert took a shot at Democratic politician Beto O'Rourke, who had recently suggested a ban on assault weapons. Gun rights advocate Boebert said "if the citizenry in America is disarmed then we are no longer citizens, we are subjects."
Things got weird when she claimed in Venezuela "they eat the dogs and it started because they do not have firearms to protect themselves, to defend themselves against a tyrannical government."
You can hear what Boebert said in the video below.
Dog-eating in Venezuela is not related to the country's lack of firearms. The nation's poorest citizens have engaged in the practice in recent years largely in response to the country's economic collapse, which has resulted in the largest humanitarian crisis in South America.
Boebert was heavily mocked for her remarks.
The United States previously imposed a federal assault weapons ban from 1994 to 2004; the ban expired in accordance with its sunset provision.
While the nation has yet to revive the ban, the federal government has recently taken steps to restrict gun ownership in response to several high-profile mass shootings.
Several weeks ago, the Senate reached a deal on a package of safety and gun-related measures to prevent future mass shootings.
The deal includes funds to encourage states to pass and implement so-called "red flag" laws to remove guns from a person who they believe may present a danger to others or themselves as well as money for school safety and mental health resources and expanded background checks.
The deal came amid nationwide outrage over a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas that claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers. Since then, the nation has been gripped by more mass shootings, particularly one at an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois that resulted in seven deaths and more than 40 injuries.
However, the shootings have only emboldened Republicans who have increased their pro-gun sales rhetoric and some, like Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, have opted to eat their own, as when she criticized South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham after news outlets reported he was involved in bipartisan Senate negotiations on gun legislation.
