Over the past couple of days, some MAGA Republicans were spotted on Capitol Hill going about their business wearing AR-15 pins on their lapels, in the spot where members of Congress traditionally wear the American flag or congressional seal pins.
Yes, you read that right. AR-15 pins.
As tone deaf as that sounds, freshman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) and scandal-plagued Rep. George Santos (R-NY) were both photographed wearing these pins on their lapels this week.
Naturally, just like me and the rest of Twitter, you might have some questions about these rifle pins. So did some members of Congress.
“Where are these assault weapon pins coming from? Who is passing these out?” Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) asked on Wednesday.
To try and answer some of these questions, TPM reached out to Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s (R-FL) office.
“The pin is about sponsoring a gun bill and has nothing to do with whatever blueanon conspiracy theories are being floated on Capitol Hill,” Rep. Luna told TPM through her spokesperson Edie Heipel.
Per a quick Google search, apparently “blueanon,” which is a play on the name QAnon, is a term coined by MAGA Republicans to go after people they think are pushing “left-wing conspiracy theories.”
Now that that’s cleared up — what gun bill is Luna talking about?
The gun bill in question appears to be Rep. Andrew Clyde’s (R-GA) Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today (SHORT) Act, which was reintroduced on Tuesday. The SHORT act is aimed at preventing a new Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) rule from taking effect. The rule would recategorize some firearms with stabilizing braces, requiring them to be registered and subject to taxes.
Luna’s spokesperson did not respond to a follow-up question asking for more information about the conspiracy theories that, per her statement, were “being floated on Capitol Hill.”
