In a recent video, Republican Representative Lauren Boebert can be seen tossing a pin honoring a victim of the Uvalde school shooting last year into the trash.
In memory of Maite Rodriguez, one of the 19 children slain in May 2022 at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas—the bloodiest school shooting since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre—the pin featured green Converse sneakers.
Members of March of Our Lives, a national organisation working to reduce gun violence in America, and Lives Robbed, an organisation founded by the families of the children killed at Robb Elementary, were seen in a Twitter video posted on Tuesday distributing the pin in the congressional hallways.
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A member of one of the organisations was seen in the video interacting with Boebert in a congressional hallway. The person informs Boebert that Rodriguez, who was sporting a pair of green Converse on the day of the Uvalde tragedy, was remembered by the pin.
Boebert merely takes a piece of paper with the pin still connected and throws it in a garbage bin without ever responding to the person.
“The video of Representative Boebert throwing out the pin of Maite’s shoes is disgusting and beyond insulting,” a spokesperson for Lives Robbed told Newsweek via email. “We will not be resharing the video.”
“Maite’s shoes are a symbol of her beauty and strength, and as a reminder that real people are dying every day from gun violence, including small, innocent children,” the group said in an Instagram post. “Instead of celebrating AR-15s, let’s remember all that they have the power to destroy.”
In the wake of the Uvalde disaster, Boebert told Sean Hannity on Fox News that calls for gun regulation were unreasonable, adding that the United States “didn’t ban planes” as a result of September 11, 2001.
The Colorado conservative who has bragged about her pro-gun beliefs and posted pictures of her family’s Christmas cards remarked in February of this year that Americans “need to get our numbers up” when learning that the U.S. only owns 46% of the world’s firearms.
When asked about a prospective new law mandating gun owners to register any rifles that use so-called stabilising braces, the congresswoman responded, “ATF. Alcohol, tobacco, and firearms.”
Social media users have lashed out against Boebert’s action.
Rodriguez passed away when she was 10 years old. Her obituary said that she was an A-B honour roll student “who enjoyed learning about animals and the ocean, especially dolphins, whales, and dogs.”
She intended to pursue a degree in marine biology at the University of Texas A&M in Corpus Christi.
