One of the primary advantages of the AR-15 is that it’s a light, easy to handle weapon that makes it very useful for home defense. Its light weight also makes it good for those who don’t have the physical strength to hold something like an M-1A or Garand. That’s an important feature in a self-defense rifle.

But lawmakers rarely understand the reality of the weapons they seek to regulated to outlaw status. Anti-gun legislators are rarely gun people. They don’t know what they’re talking about, so, they decide to make some stuff up.

Take Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, for example. In just the first minute of this video, she spouts so much that isn’t close to right.

“I’ve held an AR-15 in my hand,” she says. “It is as heavy as 10 boxes that you might be moving.”

Those most be empty boxes.

After all, the AR-15 as a base model weighs around 6.5 lbs. With accessories, that weight can climb up a bit, but you’re still generally looking at less than 10 lbs. So, for the sake of argument, let’s say this firearm she held weighed 10 lbs. That’s 10 one-pound boxes, then?

Or maybe Jackson Lee is just making stuff up?

After all, her next quote definitely suggests that.

“[T]he bullet that is utilized,” she continues, “a .50 caliber, these kinds of bullets need to be licensed and do not need to be on the streets.”

Well, she’s wrong about .50 caliber rounds not needing to be on the streets, but that’s a matter of opinion. She manages to get the actual facts wrong too, though, and that’s the most egregious part of this.

After all, the AR-15 isn’t a .50 caliber weapon. While there are a handful of AR-pattern weapons chambered in a .50 caliber (.50 Beowulf), they’re a tiny fraction of the overall market. The vast majority of AR-15s are chambered in .22 caliber, either .223 or 5.56 which are the same size but not the same round.

They’re not even close to .50 caliber and only a complete and total moron could mistake a .223 for a .50.

Actually, I take that back. Not even a moron could make that mistake.

Which, of course, leads me to believe that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is lying about having ever held such a firearm in her life. Absolutely nothing she’s describing fits with the actual facts we know about AR-15s.

Now, no one should be surprised by the idea that a politician might lie. It’s kind of what they do. However, to so brazenly lie about facts so easily verifiable is beyond the pale. However, she knows that the mainstream media won’t fact-check her. They’ll allow her lies to stand and confuse the issue.

Yet some of us know better.

If Jackson Lee will lie on such basic facts, why should we take her word on anything else? It also means the American people should question every bit of gun legislation she wants to propose. Frankly, the people of her district need to vote her out of office. Unfortunately, as she’s an NYC politician (edited to add that yes, she represents a district in Texas, but she was born in NYC. I mixed up place of birth with who she represented.), that’s not likely to happen.

But her lies need to be called out, loudly and often.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee as “Rep. Shirley Jackson Lee.” The error has been corrected.