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. What gun bill is Luna talking about?
Her spokesperson Heipel did not respond to follow up questions asking for more information on the gun bill and the conspiracy theories she mentioned in her statement. It’s unclear what gun bill Luna is referring to — neither Luna nor Santos has introduced legislation along those lines — but Senate Democrats have introduced at least two gun bills to crack down on assault weapons and to secure firearm storage.
So far there are more question marks than answers but we’ll keep you posted as we learn more.
