Freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Co.) appears to carry a handgun while walking the streets of Capitol Hill in a new ad released on Sunday.
“Even though I work in one of the most liberal cities in America, I refused to give up my rights, especially my Second Amendment rights,” Boebert says in the ad. “I will carry my firearm in D.C. and in Congress.”
Some Democrats in Congress are currently aiming to pass a ban on members carrying guns on Capitol grounds, which they have been allowed to do since 1976, according to The Washington Post.
Boebert, who owns a gun-themed restaurant in Colorado, was elected in November and has pledged to carry her firearm while in Washington, which requires a license to carry a concealed firearm and bans open-carrying of guns of any kind.
“I walk to my office each morning by myself,” Boebert says in the ad. “So as a 5-foot tall, 100-pound woman I choose to protect myself legally, because I am my best security.”
D.C. does not recognize concealed-carry licenses from other states, the Post reported, and nonresidents are required to register their concealed-carry permits from other states with local police. The 1976 law exempts members of Congress on Capitol grounds.
Washington police Chief Robert Contee III said on Monday he wants to speak with Boebert about her intention to carry a firearm while in the district.
“That Congresswoman will be subjected to the same penalties as anyone else that’s caught on the D.C. streets carrying a firearm,” Contee said.
Boebert became famous among conservatives in her state when she confronted then-Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke at a town hall in Colorado and told him “hell no” he would not take her guns.
“I am a woman and mother of four,” she says in the ad. “I choose to defend my family with all of the force the Constitution provides.”