I’m not saying that Republicans are a lock to keep the U.S. Senate seat currently held by the retiring Roy Blunt when elections roll around next year, but I will say you’ve got a better chance of finding a case of 9mm at your local gun store than Democrats have in capturing the seat next November. Missouri is a red state that’s grown more conservative in its politics over the past few years, and whoever the Republicans select to replace Blunt will start out as the favorite in the 2022 Senate race.

There’s no shortage of candidates on either side of the political aisle, however, and one Democrat is trying to get some attention with a new attack ad aimed not at any of his primary opponents, but one of the Republicans hoping to win the GOP nomination.

Democrat Lucas Kunce, who is running for an open Senate seat in Missouri, released a campaign ad Wednesday mocking one of his opponents, Republican Mark McCloskey, who drew national outrage last summer when he and his wife pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their St. Louis mansion.

 

In the video, Kunce cocks a firearm, appears to aim it at something, and then says: “You know what? Forget it. I don’t have to do this type of thing… Stunts like that, those are for those clowns on the other side, like that ‘Mansion Man’ Mark McCloskey.”

Kunce, a retired Marine, may hold a gun in his new campaign ad, but he’s clearly not trying to woo Second Amendment supporters by calling a semi-automatic rifle a “weapon of war.”

Remember that clown who got his 15 minutes of fame threatening people with a weapon of war outside his mansion? You know, Mansion Man @Mark__McCloskey?

Well, I’m running against him for Missouri's open U.S. Senate seat. And I want to teach him a lesson. pic.twitter.com/3UGaoXvD4p

— Lucas Kunce (@LucasKunceMO) June 9, 2021

Mark McCloskey announced that he’s running for U.S. Senate on Tucker Carlson’s show a few weeks ago, but there are more high-profile Republicans in the race as well; including former governor Eric Greitens and current Attorney General Eric Schmitt. The reason why Kunce decided to cut a campaign ad targeting McCloskey is simple; he knows it will get attention, and as a candidate with almost no name recognition, he needs to engage in some stunts in order to stand out.

I find it odd, however, that Kunce is trying to bash McCloskey over guns (even calling the rifle that McCloskey held in his hand a “weapon of war”) when Kunce’s own campaign website doesn’t mention gun control in the list of issues that Kunce finds important.

Kunce’s website talks about his desire to implement universal healthcare, legalize marijuana, establish a “Marshall Plan for the Midwest,” take on “Big Ag,” abolish corporate PACs, and a host of other issues, but never mentions guns, gun control, or even violent crime.  It’s an odd omission from a guy who’s trying to make a name for himself by using Mark McCloskey as a foil. Presumably Kunce wants to ban the rifle that McCloskey held in his hands as protesters marched through his gated community last summer, but he never actually says so in his campaign commercial. Instead, he uses a rifle of his own as a campaign prop, while constantly referring to McCloskey as “Mansion Man Mark.”

It’s not a very effective ad, to be honest. Sure, Kunce will get some attention from left-leaning outfits like the Huffington Post and 2A sites like Bearing Arms, but I can’t imagine that the ad is going to sway many Democrats to adopt him as their chosen candidate. Then again, given the dearth of high-profile Democrats willing to run for the open Senate seat in Missouri, any boost in name recognition is bound to be of some help to Kunce… at least in the Democratic primary.