Congresswoman Lauren Boebert mocks Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg as ‘tough’ and ‘child’

Social media users slammed representative Boebert for bullying a college student on Twitter

Representative Lauren Boebert is facing a social media backlash for going after Parkland shooting survivor and gun control activist David Hogg, after she asked him to give his “keyboard a rest.” 

Hogg had earlier tweeted at freshman Republican representatives — Ms Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene — calling them “real threats” inside the Congress. “They can put up all the fencing around the capitol the real threats of  @mtgreeneeand  @laurenboeberwill still be inside until @GOPLeadertakes a stand,” he wrote. 

The two Republican representatives had supported former president Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud. 

Ms Boebert, who had previously tweeted details about the location of Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the 6 January attack on the US Capitol that left five people dead,  fired back at Mr Hogg and said: "David, please. We all saw how tough you were when questioned face to face. Give your keyboard a rest, child."

Her remarks drew instant backlash on social media for attacking a college student. “He’s a child. Do you think this a good look?" asked Molly Jong-Fast,  editor at large, Daily Beast. “He lived through a gun massacre at his high school and so you’re bullying him." 

“Is there a contest along the GOP freshmen to see which one of you can be the s***tiest human being?” said American historian Kevin M Kruse.  

“You’re a United States Congresswoman attacking a “child”? Nice look. Don’t you have a real job to do, that we the taxpayers are paying for? The people of Colorado’s 3rd deserve so much better than an overpaid Twitter troll,” wrote Laura Packard, an American health care advocate. 

This is, however, not the first time that the Parkland massacre survivor was attacked by a member of the Republican party.

Before being elected as a representative, Greene was filmed following Mr Hogg, who was 18-year-old at the time, as she demanded an explanation on how the students were able to set up appointments with lawmakers. In the clip from March 2019, she could be heard telling Mr Hogg that she herself was a gun owner. “The best way to stop the bad guys with guns is good guys with the guns.” 

In an interview with CNN, Mr Hogg said that he “absolutely” felt threatened by Ms Greene when she confronted him over gun control during a YouTube video, adding that the controversial representative "would rather choose to protect guns than children.”

“None of us wants to be doing this but we have to because sadly corrupted elected officials like Marjorie Taylor Greene are in Congress and would rather choose to protect guns than children,” he said.