WASHINGTON – A Republican member of the United States Congress raised eyebrows yesterday when she appeared at a Zoom committee meeting with an arsenal of guns strategically displayed in her background.
Representative Lauren Boebert was among the lawmakers attending an organising meeting of the House Natural Resources Committee being held by video because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
When Boebert appeared on camera from her home, she was seated in front of a bookshelf, which featured at least three rifles and a handgun.
“I always thought my dirty dishes piled up and accumulating bacteria were the most dangerous thing in a Zoom background,” tweeted a Democratic member of the committee, Katie Porter.
Boebert, 34, is a gun rights activist who was elected to the House of Representatives from the western state of Colorado in November last year.
An outspoken supporter of former president Donald Trump, she owns a restaurant called “Shooters Grill” in the town of Rifle, Colorado, where the employees openly carry firearms.
Soon after her arrival in Washington, Boebert announced her intention to carry a gun to work and has criticised the deployment of metal detectors at the entrances to the House chamber.
Among the items on yesterday’s committee agenda was organising in-person meetings again.
Boebert criticised rules banning lawmakers from bringing firearms to the floor of the House or committee hearings.
“This rule is absurd,” Boebert said, and an “infringement on our constitutional rights”.
She claimed that she and other lawmakers were left “vulnerable and defenceless” during the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Representative Jared Huffman of California, a Democratic member of the committee, spoke up in support of the ban.
“Here’s the reality. 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-19 epidemic and start showing up in person, and our safety and ability to conduct business civilly without feeling threatened is a relevant consideration.
“Whatever your fetishes or feelings are about guns, you’re not going to bring them into our committee room.
“You don’t need them there for your own safety. Many of us feel like it threatens our safety. And that’s just not going to be allowed.”
Room Rater, a Twitter feed that analyses the backgrounds of Zoom participants, took note of the unusual backdrop used by Boebert, a mother of four children.
“Unsafe gun storage is no laughing matter,” it said.
“Who says this is storage? These are ready for use,” Boebert tweeted back. – AFP, February 19, 2021
