Republican congresswoman leaves people speechless with TV ad vowing to carry a gun into Congress

A Trump supporting congresswoman bragged that she carried her pistol to Congress – but all was not as it seemed.

Lauren Boebert, who was elected to represent Colorado’s 3rd congressional district last year, released a video in which she appears to walk around Washington DC with a Glock.

The video opens with Boebert strapping the gun to her waist before heading to Capitol Hill.

She says:

“I will carry my firearm in DC and in Congress. In DC of all places, we should be encouraged to practice our rights.

"I’m a woman and a mother of four. I choose to defend my family with all of the force the constitution provides.”

But for all her fighting talk, it seems the video was misleading.

A spokesperson for the Republican congresswoman told The Washington Post that she did not, in fact, carry the gun during the video shoot or violate DC law.

Members of Congress can keep their guns in their offices and transport them around DC as long as they are not loaded.

But nobody is allowed to carry a gun around the city without a permit and open-carrying is not allowed.

Crucially, we never actually see the gun on Boebert’s belt after the opening shots of her video, at which point she is inside. The image of a gun projected onto her jacket as she says “I choose to protect myself legally because I am my best security” in the video clearly implies that the Glock is still hidden beneath it.

After Boebert released the video, she was reportedly issued a warning by DC police.

Chief Robert Contee said:

“That congresswoman, whoever it is, I guess it was from Colorado, will be subjected to the same penalties as anyone else that’s caught on the District of Columbia street that’s carrying a firearm.”

He also claimed he would contact her directly.

Boebert has made a name for herself as a “gun rights activist”.

As she says in her video, she owns a restaurant called Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colorado in which staff members are encouraged to open carry. The restaurant was hit with a temporary cease and desist order last year when it remained open during a lockdown.

Boebert has also previously voiced support for QAnon, the bizarre conspiracy theory that posits Trump at the centre of a secret resistance movement against pedophilia and cannibalism in the US government. She denies being a Q follower.

She was congratulated on her win in Colorado by Trump before his defeat in the presidential election.