Rep. Lauren Boebert's gun-themed restaurant Shooters Grill in downtown Rifle, Colorado, has officially closed its doors, the Post Independent reports.
According to the news outlet, the Colorado Republican's eatery was one of the only places in America where servers open-carried firearms while taking orders. As of Sunday, the restaurant was no more.
"We were like a family," Boebert told the Independent. "I would say Shooters, for any employee, was their life. We lived and breathed it every single day. They were a part of this culture and brand that we created in Rifle, and there was a lot of pride with that."
Boebert said her new landlord Meskin Enterprises, LLC, notified her in June that her lease wasn't going to be renewed.
Shocked by the news, Boebert told the Independent that she called the landlord but "there wasn't really much wiggle room or anywhere to compromise unless we bought the building ourselves."
While she doesn't want to make any guarantees just yet, Boebert told the news outlet that she and her husband, Jayson, are praying and plan to keep some type of Shooters presence on Rifle's Third Street.
"We would just dramatically scale it back, because, obviously, we're not in our building," she said. "It may look like a Shooters coffee shop with pastries and some easy breakfast sandwiches and merchandise."
The restaurant itself was an idea that Boebert had after she ministered to female inmates at Garfield County Jail. She told the Independent she wanted to help them "trade their shame for glory" and later hired some of the women after they were released.
Since opening in May, 2013, Shooters employed more than 75 people and served an average of 100 tables a day, according to Boebert.
As for what guns the servers carried, Boebert said that was up to them.
"Most carry semi-automatics, because that's what we practiced with," the congresswoman said.
According to the Washington Examiner, Boebert opposed Colorado's COVID-19 lockdown policies by refusing to comply with stay-at-home orders, causing the restaurant to temporarily lose its food license in May, 2020.
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