“When I became a business owner, I needed to protect myself. There was an altercation outside of my restaurant where a man was physically beat to death. There were no weapons involved. He was beat to death by another man’s hands.”
— Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), in a speech on the House floor, March 10
“Shortly after we opened our restaurant, there was an altercation where a man was beat to death … outside of my restaurant, beat to death by another man. No weapons. And I immediately wondered, how am I going to protect everyone?”
— Boebert, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Feb. 27
“After a violent incident outside my business, I took advantage of Colorado’s open-carry laws and began to carry at work.”
— Boebert, speaking in a viral ad, tweeted Jan. 3
We’re often interested in the “origin stories” of politicians — regular lines that they use over and over to explain their political motivations.
Boebert is a strong booster of gun rights. She arrived in Congress this year after leveraging her fame as the owner of a restaurant, Shooters Grill of Rifle, Colo., where the wait staff often serve customers with open-carry firearms. A sign outside tells customers that guns are welcome.
Over and over, Boebert says she started allowing her staff to carry guns after a man was killed outside her restaurant. But we’ve obtained police and coroner reports that show her story is mainly fiction. Continue reading.