Matt Gaetz Jokes About Blowing Up Capitol Metal Detectors With Explosives (UPDATE: Lauren Boebert Tweets ‘I’ll Bring the Tannerite!’)
While campaigning for a Republican congressional candidate in central Florida on Saturday, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) complained about the metal detectors in the Capitol, lying about why they were installed and going so far as to joke about blowing them up with explosives.
The Florida congressman was in Lake County (just northwest of Orlando) to campaign for Florida State Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R-FL), who is running for Congress in 2022 and shares Gaetz’s support for former President Donald Trump.
Gaetz mentioned Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-CO) objection to the metal detectors that were installed in the Capitol complex shortly after the Jan. 6 riot. Multiple Republican lawmakers loudly complained about the metal detectors, claiming they were a violation of their constitutional rights, and Boebert was among those who attempted to circumvent the screening by walking around the metal detectors or refusing to allow her bag to be searched.
Boebert, said Gaetz during his remarks Saturday, was a “5 foot nothing woman” who “carries a firearm for her personal protection,” but the metal detectors on the House floor were installed after “they got triggered by that.”
Again, to be clear, the metal detectors were installed in the immediate aftermath of the violent riots that took place at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, after an angry mob of Trump supporters overwhelmed the Capitol Police and stormed into the building, not because an unnamed foe was “triggered” by Boebert (even though she did begin her first term in Congress with a video vowing to “carry my Glock to Congress.”
“I said, man, is it, is it ‘tannonite’ [sic] or C4 we want to put in those metal detectors and we blow ’em up,” said Gaetz as Sabatini clapped and the crowd laughed and cheered.
That’s not some type of minor fireworks Gaetz is referencing. C-4 is a powerful type of plastic explosive, and he presumably meant “Tannerite,” a two-component explosive consisting of an oxidizer and an aluminium-powder based fuel. When combined, the two components are relatively stable but when struck with a high-velocity bullet impact, it results in an explosive reaction. Tannerite is marketed primarily for use in reactive targets, but YouTube videos of Tannerite-induced explosions have gone viral, sometimes because the explosion has unintentionally started a forest fire or hurt or killed someone.
Watch the video above, via Right Side Broadcasting Network (the relevant section starts around the 24:00 mark).
UPDATE 11:00 pm ET: Gaetz is doubling down on his remarks, tweeting a link to this article with the comment, “If you can’t fantasize about blowing up useless metal detectors with [Boebert] at a Florida Halloween political rally for [Sabatini], when can you?”
If you can’t fantasize about blowing up useless metal detectors with @laurenboebert at a Florida Halloween political rally for @AnthonySabatini, when can you?https://t.co/VKGnegLGBy
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) October 31, 2021
Boebert cheered Gaetz on, retweeting his tweet with “I’ll bring the Tannerite!”
I’ll bring the Tannerite! https://t.co/E8tpandzBo
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) October 31, 2021
She added a tweet telling the “fools who think this would be done inside the Capitol” to “get a life!” and said the metal detectors were “useless” so “we are getting rid of them when Republicans take back the House.”
To the fools who think this would be done inside the Capitol: get a life!
The metal detectors are useless and we are getting rid of them when Republicans take back the House.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) October 31, 2021
Sabatini, the candidate for whom Saturday’s rally was organized, showed his support by retweeting Gaetz and Boebert’s tweets (screenshots below).
Screenshot via Twitter.
Screenshot via Twitter.
