Rep. Lauren Boebert, Colorado Republican, was savaged on social media after saying that protecting and defending the U.S. Constitution “doesn’t mean trying to rewrite the parts you don’t like.”
Ms. Boerbert, a proudly self-described supporter of the Constitution’s Second Amendment right to bear arms, was mocked by Twitter users after making the remark on the social media service Friday.
“Protecting and defending the Constitution doesn’t mean trying to rewrite the parts you don’t like,” Ms. Boebert tweeted.
Ratified in 1788, the Constitution has been modified numerous times since to include the Second Amendment and 26 others. The first ten, the Bill of Rights, were ratified in December 1791, two years after they were submitted to the states by the first Congress in September 1789.
Ms. Boebert was subsequently reminded on Twitter by way of a virtual history lesson courtesy of her critics and at least one fellow member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep Ted Lieu, California Democrat, called out his GOP colleague from his own Twitter account to reminder her that women could not legally vote until the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920.
“That Amendment passed because a lot of Americans across our country worked to rewrite a part of the Constitution that they didn’t like,” Mr. Lieu tweeted.
Some other verified Twitter users outright questioned the first-year congresswoman’s qualifications, meanwhile.
“Lady, do you even know what your job is?” tweeted journalist Elizabeth Spiers, a founding editor of the former Gawker website.
Among the legislation that Ms. Boebert has backed since her term in Congress began last month are two bills calling for the Constitution to be amended further. One of those bills would rewrite the 14th Amendment to implement equal protection “for the right to life of each born and preborn human person.” The other bill would add a new amendment imposing term limits on Congress members.
Ms. Boebert, 34, represents Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, whose constituents include residents of cities including Grand Junction, Durango and Aspen, among others. She ran as a vocal Second Amendment supporter, and her campaign website currently describes her as “pro-freedom, pro-guns and pro-Constitution.”
Members of the House Natural Resources Committee, including Ms. Boebert, had discussed a Democratic-led proposal Thursday that sought to ban members from bringing firearms into the hearing room.
“My colleagues aren’t debating a constitutional amendment — they are trying to circumvent the process the Founders established by proposing unlawful rules that go against what the Constitution explicitly says,” Ms. Boebert told The Washington Times afterward. “If they want to propose an amendment to repeal the right to bear arms, let’s debate it, but the way they are going about it right now is totally unacceptable and goes against the American tradition of the rule of law.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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