Lauren Boebert Ripped For Inane Pro-Gun Take: 'We Didn’t Ban Planes' After 9/11

By accident, the Colorado GOP congresswoman basically argued in favor of background checks.
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Extremist Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) argued on Fox News Thursday that gun control isn’t the answer to mass shootings because “when 9/11 happened, we didn’t ban planes.”

“We secured the cockpit,” said Boebert, the lawmaker who posed for a Christmas photo with her three young children holding assault rifles last year.

“I want our schools secured,” she said. “I want our children protected, and I want teachers that can protect themselves and their students. And you know what? We can achieve this without trying to disarm law-abiding citizens.”

Other countries have shown that tightening gun control laws and banning assault rifles and semiautomatic weapons is highly effective in preventing mass shootings.

Boebert’s comments came in the aftermath of the deadliest school shooting in Texas history. An 18-year-old male opened fire in an Uvalde elementary school with an assault rifle he purchased legally, killing 19 children and two teachers.

It happened less than 10 days after another 18-year-old killed 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, also with a firearm purchased legally.

The massacres have put renewed pressure on Republicans to allow the passage of meaningful gun reform legislation, including by voting on bills to expand background checks for gun purchases. Although this idea attracts broad support from American voters, it’s been blocked for years by elected Republicans, many of whom receive enormous campaign support from gun lobbyists.

Boebert’s reasoning didn’t hold up with critics. Many noted that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks forever changed the landscape of air travel in order to prevent future attacks.

All flights remained grounded until days later, on Sept. 14. When air travel did resume, airport security dramatically intensified, and myriad new screening measures ― not unlike the checks gun control advocates are calling for ― were implemented.

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