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Lauren Boebert, the owner and operator of a Western Slope restaurant where all staffers openly carry guns, announced on Sunday a conservative primary challenge to Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez, The Squad and the rest of these left-wing lunatics are taking a wrecking ball to our country while our current representative stays utterly silent,\u201d Boebert said in a statement announcing her candidacy<\/a> in Colorado\u2019s 3rd Congressional District.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Squad\u201d is a group of four new, liberal Democratic congresswomen of color that includes Ocasio-Cortez, a U.S. representative from New York.<\/p>\n \u201cHard-working, patriotic Americans like you and me don\u2019t want the Green New Deal and socialized medicine,\u201d Boebert said. \u201cEvery time AOC and the rest of The Squad pipes up with another crazy idea, I will remind them that our belief in God, country and family are what built the United States of America into the greatest nation the world has ever known.\u201d<\/p>\n Boebert\u2019s restaurant, Shooters Grill in Rifle<\/a>, has been the subject of media attention because its employees openly carry firearms while serving customers. Boebert is a gun rights activist, recently showing up \u2013 a pistol strapped to her waistband \u2013 at a gun-control event for then-presidential candidate Beto O\u2019Rourke in Aurora to confront him about his pledge to take away people\u2019s assault-style weapons.<\/p>\n Boebert says she is an active supporter of President Donald Trump, and the district she is running in backed Trump in 2016. \u201cThere is a battle for the heart and soul of our country that I intend on helping win,\u201d she said in her announcement.<\/p>\n In an interview with The Durango Herald<\/em>, Boebert, who was raised in a Democratic family in Denver, said her political views changed after she moved to the Western Slope at age 12. She got her first paycheck at a McDonald\u2019s in Garfield County and realized she could do a better job taking care of herself than the government.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing raised in a poverty mentality, you kind of were raised believing everything (is) a struggle, and it is, but there\u2019s hope in that struggle, and you have to have vision to get out of it,\u201d Boebert said.<\/p>\n Boebert and her husband, Jayson, an oil and gas worker, realized \u201cfailure and government assistance were not an option.\u201d She began advocating for the Second Amendment after a violent fight in the alley at Shooters Grill.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was an altercation in our back alley where a man was physically beaten to death, and it immediately prompted the question, \u2018How will I defend my people?\u2019 So I began to carry that day,\u201d she said. Some of her employees asked if they too could carry their guns, \u201cand we all agreed that none of us were comfortable having our guns unattended in our purses in the back.\u201d She then began offering gun training sessions.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew that we have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and if you don\u2019t have a way to defend your life, what good are the rest of your rights?\u201d Boebert said.<\/p>\n If elected, Boebert said she would oppose regulation of natural resources and advocate for lower health care insurance by \u201callowing it to be sold across state lines.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf Congressman Tipton was doing an effective job, I wouldn\u2019t feel the need to run,\u201d Boebert said. \u201cBut AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) and the rest of The Squad are going unchallenged. Conservatives want a fighter who will put these people back in their place and stand up for what we believe in, and I believe that over the years, I\u2019ve been pretty darn good at that.\u201d<\/p>\n In an interview with The Colorado Sun<\/a>, Boebert said the laws passed by Democrats in Colorado\u2019s 2019 legislative session were also a big part of her decision to run. She felt that Tipton was not vocal enough in opposing those measures, including the \u201cred flag\u201d gun bill.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I felt that we were being represented properly, I would not have stepped up to run for this position,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Boebert also opposes full-term abortions and is \u201ctired of representatives shying away from these issues and remaining utterly silent.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked why she decided to run for Congress and not the Colorado Legislature, where those measures were passed, Boebert said she wanted to have the most impact as quickly as possible. \u201cThis is not a career move for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n