Anti-Gun Group Starts Running Attack Ads Against GOP Senators

One week after the Senate failed to pass major gun legislation, Gabby Giffords’ anti-gun group Americans for Responsible Solutions has begun running ads against Sens. Mitch McConnell and Kelly Ayotte in Kentucky and New Hampshire, respectively. Politico gives a rundown of the ads:

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The McConnell ad begins with a montage of news clips about the massacre in Newtown, Conn. late last year.

“We watched. We listened. We felt it. Newtown,” the announcer says. “But Senator McConnell won’t listen to us. Eighty-two percent of Kentuckians support universal background checks. But Senator McConnell voted against them. McConnell opposed common sense checks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. Written by a Republican and a Democrat. Supported by law enforcement officers. It was a common sense plan that protected Second Amendment Rights. But Senator McConnell ignored the will of the people. Making our children and our families less safe…. And putting the Washington special interests ahead of Kentucky… AGAIN.”

The spot ends by urging voters to call McConnell. The Ayotte spot, which is also 60 seconds, makes a similar plea at the end, but the script has two women talking about an ad Ayotte ran “saying she’s one of us.”

“Well, it sure didn’t take long for her to ‘go Washington,’” one of the women says. “Says here Ayotte voted against improving background checks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.”

The second woman says, “Are you serious? 89 percent of the people in New Hampshire support universal background checks. She just ignored us?”

The spot makes similar points about the legislation being bipartisan and supported by law enforcement.

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McConnell, who is up for re-election next year, has a 36 percent approval rating according to PPP. Ayotte has seen a 15-point drop in her approval rating in New Hampshire since the vote.

As a reminder, however, nothing in the background check bill would have prevented Newtown, Aurora or Tucson—even Sen. Manchin admitted as much about Newtown. In fact, of the 30 incidents since 2003 analyzed by The Atlanic, the background check bill would have only possibly prevented one.

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