Lauren Boebert allows 8-year-old to play alone, next to possibly-loaded firearm [View all]

In a video reviewed by Salon and apparently recorded on July 25, the 8-year-old son of Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., can be seen singing, dancing and playing with cigarette lighters — while left alone in a room a few feet away from a high-capacity rifle. This would appear to violate a new Colorado state law, under which gun owners are required to store their deadly weapons in a gun safe, with a trigger or cable lock, whenever the owner is aware, or should reasonably be aware, that a "juvenile or a resident who is ineligible to possess a firearm can gain access to the firearm."

As a newly-elected member of Congress in February, Boebert was widely criticized after appearing at a House Natural Resources Committee meeting via Zoom before a backdrop of a bookshelf bearing several high-capacity weapons.

Link to tweet

In response to the outcry, the far-right lawmaker fired back on Twitter by suggesting that the weapons were loaded, posting, "Who says this is storage? These are ready for use." Additional photos of the firearms in question suggest that two of the rifles were loaded with 30-round magazines and a third with an even larger magazine. Firearm magazines that hold more than 15 rounds of ammunition at any one time, such as those Boebert appears to possess, have been banned in Colorado since 2013.

The bookshelf and chair seen in that February Zoom call are also visible in several of the videos featuring Boebert's son, which indicate that she was in the bedroom of her home in Silt, Colorado, for the congressional meeting.

In the July 25 video, Boebert's son is seen dancing alone in that same bedroom, close to a weapon that appears to be one of the same rifles seen loaded during the February Zoom call. It's in a different position in the July video, leaning casually against the headboard of a bed, near what appears to be a handgun lying on the floor.



Read more: https://www.salon.com/2021/09/10/lauren-boebert-allows-8-year-old-to-play-alone-next-to-possibly-loaded-firearm/