Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post via Getty Images
- Colorado Rep. Laura Boebert made a speech on the House floor this week backing gun rights.
- She cited a story of a man who was "beaten to death" outside her Colorado restaurant as justification.
- But local police debunked her claim, as an autopsy revealed the man had died from a drug overdose.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Colorado lawmaker Lauren Boebert once again used a bogus story about a man being "beaten to death" outside her restaurant to advocate for gun rights, despite the local police department debunking her claims after an autopsy showed that the man had died from a drug overdose.
Boebert was speaking on the House floor during Wednesday's debate on bills that might expand background checks before guns can be purchased.
"There was an altercation outside my restaurant where a man was physically beat to death, there were no weapons involved, he was beat to death by another man's hands," she said, referring to a 2013 incident outside her Shooters Grill restaurant in Rifle, Colorado.
Boebert used the story to justify why she and the staff at her restaurant all carry guns at work.
"I have a lot of young girls who work in my restaurant and we needed an equalizer."
However, it was reported by the Colorado Sun newspaper in September last year that the Rifle Police Department had no record of such a murder.
The police department told the newspaper that a man had indeed died down the street from the gun-themed Shooters Grill restaurant in August, but that an autopsy indicated that he had died after overdosing on drugs.
Yahoo News reported that this was not the first time that Boebert had made this claim, as she told the same story multiple times when running for office.
Boebert has had an eventful first few months in Congress.
In January, she clashed with Capitol police after setting off the metal detectors that were put in place as part of new security rules after the Capitol riot.
She also targeted gun control advocate and Parkland high school shooting survivor David Hogg for "not being tough enough," calling him a "child" and telling him to "give (his) keyboard a rest."
Boebert's comments came after Hogg called out Boebert and her fellow freshman Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene on Twitter and said they represented the "real threats" inside Congress.
In February, she also drew flack for attending a Zoom call with House committee colleagues with a pile of guns displayed in the background.
She was also criticized this week for releasing an attack ad against Nancy Pelosi that featured shooting sound effects.
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