Boebert and Gaetz under fire over ‘joke’ about blowing up Capitol metal detectors at rally

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Colorado Republican Representative Lauren Boebert and her fellow GOP House member, Matt Gaetz from Florida, have come under fire for joking about blowing up the Capitol metal detectors.

Mr Gaetz was speaking at a rally for Florida State Representative and Congressional candidate Anthony Sabatini on Sunday when he falsely claimed that the metal detectors were installed because of Ms Boebert, who carries a firearm.

The metal detectors were installed following the Capitol riot on 6 January when a mob of Trump supporters laid siege to the building in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory.

“My friend Lauren Boebert from Colorado – they put in metal detectors on the floor of the House ... because she’s a five-foot-nothing woman, she carries a firearm for her personal protection,” Mr Gaetz told rallygoers.

“They got triggered by that. I said, ‘Is it tannerite or C4 we want to put in those metal detectors when we blow them up?’” he added.

“I’ll bring the Tannerite!” Ms Boebert tweeted on Sunday evening. “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,” Ms Boebert later added as Twitter users started tagging the FBI, the Secret Service, the Justice Department, and other institutions in their responses to Ms Boebert and Mr Gaetz.

“Are any of you paying attention to the likes of Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz?” one Twitter user asked as they tagged the federal agencies. “They claim these are jokes, but we know damn good and well that we ordinary citizens would be arrested in a heartbeat for such ‘joking’.”

“This is the very rhetoric that put our country at risk on Jan 6th,” another account holder wrote. “They claim it is joking, but they know their supporters only need a spark to get someone moving in a direction. These are not funny ‘jokes’.”

“I honest to God did not think this was a real tweet until I looked up your account,” Paul Swinebaum wrote. “@GOP Members of Congress are discussing acts of domestic terrorism. @POTUS @VP @SpeakerPelosi It’s past time to invoke Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, for several @GOP members of Congress.”

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states that a person who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the” US “or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof” shouldn’t be allowed to hold any office of power.