Congress member Lauren Boebert said Americans owning 46 per cent of the world's guns is not enough and urged people to get the "numbers up".
The staunch pro-gun Republican made the remarks during a floor speech on Wednesday while condemning the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after the agency said it will require gun owners to register firearms with pistol braces.
A pistol brace is an accessory that is attached to a firearm and the shooter's arm to help shoot more accurately using one hand.
The Colorado representative accused the ATF of violating the separation of powers, arguing that the mandate "functions like a law that Congress never had".
“ATF Alcohol, tobacco, and firearms,” she said. “In western Colorado, we call that a fun weekend. But DC bureaucrats have used this agency to infringe on the rights of the American people.”
She continued: "We don't trust the ATF because of their overreaching actions, exactly like we are seeing with this rule."
Ms Boebert claimed that the agency has made America "more dangerous" due to its “Fast and Furious” gun-walking scandal. The ATF allowed illegal gun sales between 2009 and 2011 in an effort to track down members of Mexican drug cartels.
Gun-free zones were the "most dangerous places" in the country, added Ms Boebert, who owned a gun-themed restaurant called Shooters Grill in Rifle till last year.
"The Second Amendment is absolute and it’s here to stay. A recent report states that Americans own 46 per cent of the world’s guns. I think we need to get our numbers up, boys and girls.”
Ms Boebert seemed to be referring to a 2018 report by the Small Arms Survey, that found American citizens owned nearly 46 per cent of the world's 857 million firearms held by civilians.
Americans make up only 4 per cent of the global population at roughly 334 million. The survey found that of the more than 1 billion firearms in the world, civilians owned around 85 per cent.
“The biggest force pushing up gun ownership around the world is civilian ownership in the United States. Ordinary American people buy approximately 14 million new and imported guns every year,” survey author Aaron Karp was quoted by Reuters as saying.
