Shooters Grill Owner And 2A Advocate Wins CO Congressional Primary

Another incumbent was upset in a Republican congressional primary on Tuesday evening, as Rep. Scott Tipton lost his re-election bid to represent Colorado’s 3rd congressional district to upstart challenger Lauren Boebert, the owner of Shooter’s Grill in Rifle, Colorado and an outspoken Second Amendment supporter.

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Boebert challenged Tipton from the right, accusing the sitting congressman of not doing much of anything to represent his district or advance conservative principles in Washington, D.C. Despite an endorsement from President Donald Trump, Tipton barely carried his home county, and with 89% of the vote in was down nearly ten points to Boebert.

Boebert’s a strong candidate who ran a good campaign, but she was undoubtably helped by the inexplicable decision on the part of the Tipton campaign to not run any advertising during the primary.

Whoever was responsible for that decision shouldn’t be allowed near any campaign in the future. Boebert’s an incredibly media savvy personality, as she demonstrated with her confronting Beto O’Rourke over his gun confiscation plan during one of his campaign stops in Aurora, Colorado last year.

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Lauren Boebert drove three hours from Rifle, openly carrying a handgun, to confront the presidential contender. She owns Shooters Grill in Rifle on Colorado’s Western Slope (where the waitstaff open carry loaded firearms in the establishment).

“I was one of the gun owning Americans who heard you speak regarding your ‘Hell yes I’m going to take your AR-15s and AK-47s. Well, I’m here to say hell no you’re not.’”

While Boebert says the mandatory buyback goes too far, Columbine survivor Evan Todd told O’Rourke it doesn’t go far enough.

“Don’t you think it’s time to get rid of all semi-automatic firearms?”

O’Rourke said he is open to Todd’s suggestion but he dismissed Boebert’s concerns.

“Do I care more about how upset somebody is who owns a weapon of war that they don’t need for hunting or self-defense, or do I care more about the families who’ve lost a child?”

Still, he hesitated when pressed on how the mandatory buyback would work.

“I would expect our fellow Americans to follow the law. If they don’t and they flagrantly abuse that law, yes, that weapon would be taken from them.”

Boebert said that won’t work.

“If he’s going to send people into homes to take people’s personal property, then he’s got a big issue on his hands.”

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According to the Cook Partisan Voting Index, Colorado’s 3rd congressional district is R+6, so Boebert is the odds on favorite to win in November, when she’ll square off against former state legislator Diane Bush. Tipton defeated Bush 52-44 in the 2018 blue wave election, and at the moment I’d say Boebert has a strong chance of improving on Tipton’s margin of victory two years ago.

One thing is certain: Boebert won’t be taking the general election for granted like Tipton seems to have treated the primary. Expect a strong campaign from the Second Amendment advocate that features plenty of talk about the need to protect our right to keep and bear arms.

 

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