Lauren Boebert Ripped For Inane Pro-Gun Take: 'We Didn’t Ban Planes' After 9/11

Extremist Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) argued on Fox News Thursday that gun control isn’t the answer to mass shootings because “when 9/11 happened, we didn’t ban planes.”

“We secured the cockpit,” said Boebert, the lawmaker who posed for a Christmas photo with her three young children holding assault rifles last year.

“I want our schools secured,” she said. “I want our children protected, and I want teachers that can protect themselves and their students. And you know what? We can achieve this without trying to disarm law-abiding citizens.”

Other countries have shown that tightening gun control laws and banning assault rifles and semiautomatic weapons is highly effective in preventing mass shootings.

Boebert: When 9/11 happened, we didn’t ban planes pic.twitter.com/nvWUBz8KNO — Acyn (@Acyn) May 27, 2022

Boebert’s comments came in the aftermath of the deadliest school shooting in Texas history. An 18-year-old male opened fire in an Uvalde elementary school with an assault rifle he purchased legally, killing 19 children and two teachers.

It happened less than 10 days after another 18-year-old killed 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, also with a firearm purchased legally.

The massacres have put renewed pressure on Republicans to allow the passage of meaningful gun reform legislation, including by voting on bills to expand background checks for gun purchases. Although this idea attracts broad support from American voters, it’s been blocked for years by elected Republicans, many of whom receive enormous campaign support from gun lobbyists.

Boebert’s reasoning didn’t hold up with critics. Many noted that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks forever changed the landscape of air travel in order to prevent future attacks.

All flights remained grounded until days later, on Sept. 14. When air travel did resume, airport security dramatically intensified, and myriad new screening measures ― not unlike the checks gun control advocates are calling for ― were implemented.

Ah yes, air travel, notoriously the same as it was before 9/11 https://t.co/xQ3gotXSnz — elan gale (@theyearofelan) May 27, 2022

I guess the GED doesn’t require one to study analogies like the SAT. — Rachel Vindman 🌻 (@natsechobbyist) May 27, 2022

We closed airspace for 2 days. And we did this: banned all knives, no curbside check-ins, use of Air Marshals & only ticketed passengers beyond airport metal detectors. Flying was never again the same.

We can respond immediately again if our leaders in DC will lead! https://t.co/joxWrP3mJF — Kerry Donovan (@KerryDonovanCO) May 27, 2022

When 9/11 happened, we literally created an entirely new cabinet department dedicated to frisking your shoes and confiscating any bottle of liquid larger than 8 ounces. https://t.co/1NTTFRxCZf — Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) May 27, 2022

First, you have to have a pilot’s licence to fly a plane. Second, post 9/11, TSA won’t let anyone get on the plane with so much as a pair of nail clippers. They also make you take your shoes/belt/jacket off and get a full body X-ray to get into the terminal. https://t.co/JEVSuG8sTG — Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) May 27, 2022

ID checked TWICE before even going through TSA = universal background checks

pull out all electronics, go through an invasive X-ray, my locs are always patted down = Background checks

Can't take weapons on board = automatic weapons ban https://t.co/cYqWkmIdPq — Shay Text ACT to 644-33 @MomsDemand (@Endurance97) May 27, 2022

A lot of things are obviously wrong with this line of thinking, but um... are there 9/11-style attacks all the fucking time? https://t.co/w2rpxyq9y1 — Cody Johnston (@drmistercody) May 27, 2022

I find this level of abject stupidity unfathomable. https://t.co/CBHXxaXFtv — Khashoggi’s Ghost 🇺🇦🌻 (@UROCKlive1) May 27, 2022