Lauren Boebert Throws Out Pin Honoring School Shooting Victim

New video shows Republican Representative Lauren Boebert throwing a pin commemorating a victim in last year's Uvalde school shooting in the trash.

The pin featured green Converse shoes in honor of Maite Rodriguez, one of the 19 child victims killed in May 2022 at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas—the deadliest school shooting since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012.

A Twitter video posted on Tuesday showed members of multiple organizations saying the pin was reportedly being handed out in the halls of Congress by members of March For Our Lives, a national organization working to curb gun violence across America, and Lives Robbed, an organization formed by the families of the children murdered at Robb Elementary.

The video, posted on Twitter on Tuesday, showed an unknown member from one of the organizations speaking with Boebert in a congressional hallway. The individual tells Boebert that the pin was in memory of Rodriguez, who was wearing green Converse sneakers the day of the Uvalde massacre.

Boebert never replies to the individual, only taking a piece of paper with the pin attached and proceeding to throw it in a trash can before the video concludes.

The camera then pans to the trash can, showing the photo and pin where Boebert tossed them.

Those pins were created by Gina Gennari, who told Newsweek via email that she wanted to further the conversation of limiting gun violence. The pins are meant to be a symbol and reminder of what is lost "in completely preventable mass shootings."

Boebert's actions did not surprise her, but Gennari said she still felt revolted.

"It only motivates me to work harder and to be an even stronger advocate," she said on Wednesday. "Yesterday was about meeting with U.S. representatives and senators who are working to ban assault weapons and end gun violence, and I would rather focus on all the good work we accomplished and will continue to do in honor of all the victims of mass shootings."

"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."

Lives Robbed started a campaign in April to "help get Maite's Chucks to Congress," in reference to making a pin of the shoes. The organization said it wanted to combat Republican lawmakers' wearing of AR-15s on their lapels.

"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."

A spokesperson for March For Our Lives told Newsweek that Boebert's behavior was "soulless and completely out of line" as the shoes represented on the pin provided the only way for Rodriguez's family to identify her body in the shooting's aftermath.

"If Representative Boebert won't act to keep kids safe, you would think that she would at least show the tiniest bit of respect as a congresswoman, and as a mother and grandmother," the spokesperson said. "Her vile actions prove otherwise, and if her election in 2022 is any indication, it's clear that her district and the country are fed up and ready to vote her out in 2024."

Boebert told Fox News' Sean Hannity in the wake of the Uvalde tragedy that calls for gun control were unjustified, telling him that the U.S. "didn't ban planes" in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.

The Colorado conservative who has touted her pro-gun views, which have included family Christmas card photos, said in February of this year that Americans "need to get our numbers up" when finding out that the U.S. possesses only 46 percent of the world's firearms.

"ATF. Alcohol, tobacco and firearms," the congresswoman said when discussing a potential new mandate requiring gun owners to register any firearms that use so-called stabilizing braces. "In western Colorado, we call that a fun weekend. But D.C. bureaucrats have used this agency to infringe on the rights of the American people."

Kris Brown, president of gun violence prevention group Brady, told Newsweek that gun violence is now the No. 1 killer of children. Progress needs to continue to build on bipartisan legislation that passed last year, she said.

"Most Americans agree more needs to be done to prevent gun violence, and our lawmakers' actions need to reflect that....Brady is confident we can achieve bipartisan success again on additional legislation, including expanding the Brady Background Check system, which 90 percent of Americans support," Brown said.

Rodriguez was 10 years old when she died. Her obituary described her as an A-B honor roll student "who enjoyed learning about animals and the ocean, especially dolphins, whales and dogs."

She wanted to attend the University of Texas A&M in Corpus Christi to study marine biology.

Newsweek reached out to Boebert via email for comment.

Update 7/19/23, 1:24 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from March For Our Lives, Brady and Gina Gennari.