Lauren Boebert’s AR-15 comments spark backlash after Maine mass shooting

Lauren Boebert has faced a backlash over comments made on social media about the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. This follows Wednesday’s mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, which left 18 people dead and 13 injured.

A gunman, identified by authorities as 40-year-old Marine reservist Robert Card, opened fire at the Just-in-Time Recreation bowling alley and the Schemengees Bar & Grille restaurant before fleeing. On Friday, Maine Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck confirmed that Card’s dead body had been found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The shooting has reignited the fierce debate about gun control in the United States, with horror writer Stephen King branding current legislation “madness in the name of freedom.” The Gun Violence Archive says there have been 567 mass shootings across the U.S. so far in 2023, of which the one in Lewiston was the deadliest.

However, Boebert took a very different view, hitting out on Friday at those calling for tighter firearm restrictions. The Colorado representative posted on X, formerly Twitter: “I’m not going to be lectured about gun safety by people who think the ‘AR’ in AR-15 stands for ‘assault rifle’.”

The ‘AR’ in AR-15 stands for ArmaLite, the company that first designed the gun in the 1950s before selling the design to Colt’s Manufacturing Company. A number of companies produce versions of the AR-15, Colt’s patient for which expired in the 1970s, and one of these was used in the Lewiston mass shooting.

Boebert later shared a clip of Joy Behar, host of ABC daytime talk show The View, stating: “If you shoot with an AR-15, let’s say you shoot a deer, you can’t eat it because you basically demolish the animal.”

The Colorado Republican added: “As I said earlier this morning, these are the people who want to tell us about gun safety.” Newsweek has reached out to Rep. Boebert for comment via email.

Earlier this year, Boebert co-sponsored a bill with fellow Republican lawmakers calling for the AR-15 to be officially designated “the National Gun of the United States.”

The HuntStand website says that “the popularity of the AR-15 has spread to casual shooters and hunters—especially deer hunters.”

Boebert’s comments sparked a backlash from other X users, including Andrew Wortman, who has over 236,000 followers on the platform. He commented: “Who would you listen to about gun safety, @laurenboebert? Any of the dozens of police officers whose lives you claim to value above all others who are shot and killed each year? How about the inventor of the AR-15 who said he never intended nor fathomed it for civilian use?”

David Hogg, president of March for Our Lives, which campaigns for tougher gun control, replied: “For those wondering it stands for ArmaLite which was one of the first companies to produce the AR-15. Regardless the reality is semi automatic rifles are far more deadly than muskets were. Not only are the rounds more accurate and travel faster, it takes way less time to shoot and reload.”

A third X user, with over 57,000 followers, posted: “Someone tell Lauren Boebert that no one gives a rat’s a** if the ‘AR’ in AR-15 stands for Armalite Rifle or Angry Rhinoceros or Abhorrent Republican. The fact is, no citizen has any business having these mass murdering instruments of death.”

However, not everybody was so critical, with another X user responding: “Individual actions should not harm American rights. People scared of freedom should move to China.”