Jason Crow Calls Out Fellow CO Rep. Lauren Boebert for Video Featuring Gunshot Sounds: ‘It’s Not Funny, It’s Not Normal’
Congressman Jason Crow (D) called out his fellow Colorado House Rep. Lauren Boebert (R) for adding in gunshot sounds to punctuate the end of a recent video where she blasted Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the security fencing around the Capitol.
Earlier this week Boebert released a video walking along some of the razor-wire-topped protective barriers that still ring the Capitol after the violent riot two months ago. Mockingly calling it “Fort Pelosi,” the GOP Congresswoman said, “Madam Speaker, tear down this wall.” Then, as the video concluded and her signature flashed upon a black background, the unmistakable sound of gunshot rang out, followed by audio of a pump-action shotgun racking around shell into the chamber, and then another shot.
This stunt wasn’t Boebert’s first attempt at making waves. Just days after being sworn in, she published a video of her similarly striding around Washington, D.C. and boasting about carrying her handgun to Congress — a move her staff later admitted was faked, as she was not actually licensed to carry a firearm there.
The propriety of invoking gun violence not long after a violent attack on the Capitol prompted MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace and Axios reporter Jonathan Swan to press Crow about the possibility of bipartisanship with the likes of Boebert and other far right GOP representatives. Crow, a former Army ranger, gained notoriety for a viral photo of him comforting a fellow congresswoman while they were sheltering from attackers during the January 6th insurrection.
“Just describe what is that like?” Swan asked. “A good number of them voted to overturn the results. Have you confronted them? What are the interpersonal relationships like? Because there used to be a degree of comity on Capitol Hill. People are curious to know what that’s like now.”
“I represent almost as many Republicans in my district as Democrats. I come from a purple community,” Crow explained. “I grew up in a Republican, working-class family, so I understand some of the anxieties and some of the political debates, and I have come to Congress in good faith to try to help rebuild this and find common ground.”
“But I think we have to understand that not all of my GOP colleagues are the same,” he added. “For all of the folks who are depraved and saying terrible things and associating with extremist groups, there are a few who are also, at great risk, showing great courage standing up and saying ‘Enough is enough.’ And then of course there’s a lot that fall somewhere in between on that spectrum.”
Wallace then weighed in, contrasting House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney (WY) publicly condemning Rep. Paul Gosar speaking to a white nationalist group with Boebert’s incendiary gunshot video. “This toxic mix of racism and glorification of violence makes that comity that Jonathan’s asking about feel impossible.”
“It certainly is with people like that,” Crow agreed. “I’m not going to work with folks who normalize that behavior because it’s not funny, it’s not normal, it’s not okay. What we have seen over the last three years, and certainly on January 6th, is that words have consequences, especially if you’re an elected official. People listen to you and they act on what you say, and very real people are getting hurt and getting killed, because some people don’t understand that. That’s a leadership failure and we can’t tolerate it.”
Watch the video above, via MSNBC.
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