Twitter users mocked first-term Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) on Friday over a tweet in which she argued that defending the U.S. Constitution “doesn’t mean trying to rewrite the parts you don’t like.”
Users on Twitter were quick to point out to the gun rights advocate the many changes that have been ratified to the Constitution since it became the country’s official legal framework in 1788.
According to the Philadelphia nonprofit the National Constitution Center, the constitution as first drafted in 1787 did not include the first 10 Amendments, also known as the Bill of Rights.
In the more than 200 years since these first set of rights were adopted through an agreement with several states, more than a dozen constitutional amendments have been added that many Americans point to as pivotal moments in U.S. history, including the abolition of slavery, guaranteeing women the right to vote and establishing the legal voting age at 18 years old.
Journalist Kyle Clark pointed out that Boebert has cosponsored a constitutional amendment proposed last month seeking to add term limits for members of Congress.
Boebert went viral last month for an ad she released in which she was seen walking around the Capitol grounds, stating that she would carry her firearm in D.C. and in Congress.
Under existing Capitol Police regulations, members of Congress are exempt from the blanket prohibition on firearms anywhere in the Capitol complex, though guns are forbidden altogether in the House and Senate chambers.
Boebert on Thursday said over Zoom during a virtual House Natural Resources Committee hearing that carrying guns “is an enumerated right that American citizens have,” opposing an amendment aiming to strip a provision that prohibits firearms in the hearing room.
Boebert in a statement to The Hill on Saturday suggested that her Friday tweet was in reference to this dispute, writing, “My colleagues aren’t debating a constitutional amendment—they are trying to circumvent the process the Founders established by proposing unlawful rules that go against what the Constitution explicitly says.”
She added, “If they want to propose an amendment to repeal the right to bear arms, let’s debate it, but the way they are going about it right now is totally unacceptable and goes against the American tradition of the rule of law.”
The GOP congresswoman, who has expressed support for the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, has also attracted sharp criticism after she tweeted details on lawmakers’ locations during the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.
In a letter to congressional leadership shortly after the riot, 68 Colorado officials called for an investigation into Boebert’s actions before and during the siege.
The first-term lawmaker already has a 2022 challenger for her seat in Colorado state Rep. Donald Valdez (D), who announced his race Thursday, calling Boebert a “threat to democracy” and blaming her for helping incite the deadly Capitol insurrection.
Updated Feb. 20, 8:12 p.m.