Lauren Boebert’s gun-themed restaurant closes

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and her husband announced on Thursday that their gun-themed restaurant, Shooters Grill, was closing. 

The two said in a statement posted on Twitter that their landlord had decided not have their lease renewed and noted that the move had “no political motivation” but was “purely a business decision.”

“There is a time and season for everything, and God has called us to focus our time and energy elsewhere. While Shooters Grill is closed, stay tuned. The Shooters brand isn’t going away. There are exciting things in the works,” they said. 

“Many with a political agenda will try to spin this happy transition into something it’s not. Rest assured we will not allow them to steal our joy for all that this restaurant has meant for our family.”

Established in 2013 in Rifle, Colo., the restaurant served mostly American fare, according to menus included on Shooters Grill’s Facebook page. Servers were allowed to carry their own firearms, with many carrying semi-automatics, according to Boebert, who spoke to the Post Independent.

Employees inquired if they could carry firearms after a man was thought to have been beaten to death in front of Shooters Grill, serving as the impetus for the restaurant’s theme, according to the news outlet. The man actually died of a drug overdose.

Milken Enterprises, the landlord for Boebert’s restaurant, notified her last month about the decision not to have the lease renewed, according to the Post Independent. She and her husband are hoping to set up shop again on Third Street in Rifle.