- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ripped into Rep. Lauren Boebert following the Texas mass shooting.
- "You cannot legislate away evil," Boebert tweeted.
- Why even be in Congress if you don't believe in doing your job?" Ocasio-Cortez responded.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday ripped into Rep. Lauren Boebert over her anti-gun regulation stance following a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school that left at least 19 children and two adults dead.
The mass killing on Tuesday reignited conversations among Democrats on Capitol Hill about gun-reform legislation, whereas Republicans largely appeared skeptical about taking federal policy actions to combat gun violence.
"You cannot legislate away evil," Boebert, a Colorado Republican, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday morning.
Ocasio-Cortez seized on Boebert's comments, tweeting: "Why even be in Congress if you don't believe in doing your job?"
"Just quit and let someone who actually gives a damn do it instead of acting like a useless piece of furniture when babies are shot with AR15s that we let teen boys impulse buy before they can legally have a beer," the New York Democrat added, referring to state laws that allow 18-year-olds to buy assault rifles.
Ocasio-Cortez has previously criticized Boebert for posting a photo of herself and her young children posing while holding assault weapons.
Boebert replied to her Democratic colleague's criticism later on Wednesday, tweeting, "Ms. Defund the Police, Gun Free Zones have proven to be deadly. Let me know when you're ready to do your job and effectively protect our schools with armed security. Let's meet and solve this."
Tuesday's mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, a small city west of San Antonio, came just 10 days after another mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, left 10 Black people dead.
The Gun Violence Archive, an independent non-profit that tracks mass shootings in the United States, found that 212 mass shootings, defined as four or more people killed or injured by a firearm, have taken place so far this year.
Republicans have long opposed legislation to reform gun laws in the country, claiming they are an infringement on the Second Amendment and harm gun-owners who obey the law. Democrats meanwhile have advocated for tightening gun laws to tackle an uptick in gun violence nationwide. The partisan divide has stalled any meaningful action at the federal level to address the crisis over the years.
President Joe Biden has made reducing gun violence a priority of his administration and has taken some executive measures in response, though he's repeatedly called on Congress to take sweeping action. Biden in a speech on Tuesday evening again urged Congress to act.
"I am sick and tired. We have to act," Biden said in the wake of the Texas shooting. "Don't tell me we can't have an impact on this carnage."
The Democratic-led House last year passed two bills that would expand background check requirements for gun purchases, which only eight Republicans signed on to. But Republicans in the Senate blocked the legislation from advancing.
Top Senate Democrats signaled on Wednesday that any gun-reform action won't happen until after the Memorial Day break, when Congress is expected to recess for about a week.