Posted on 09/23/2014 5:15:20 PM PDT by Second Amendment First
Former Rep. Gabby Giffords’ pro-gun-control group has taken down a harsh ad against Arizona House candidate Martha McSally after the Republican explained her position on allowing stalkers to buy guns.
The ad features a woman named Vicki who recounts how her 19-year-old daughter was hunted down and murdered by an enraged ex-boyfriend, while a narrator says McSally, who is running for Giffords’ old seat in Congress, “opposes making it harder for stalkers to get a gun.”
The ad drew criticism, including from The Arizona Republic’s editorial page, which termed it “vile,” and McSally blasted it as inaccurate, noting she herself had been a victim of stalking. It was among several tough ads being aired this election season by Americans for Responsible Solutions. Giffords founded the group after she was wounded in the head during a mass shooting in January 2011.
(Also on POLITICO: Gabby Giffords gets mean)
The decision to take down the ad 24 hours before it was scheduled to go off the air was made based what Pia Carusone, executive director for Americans for Responsible Solutions, described as a change in McSally’s position.
The group, which includes a super PAC and nonprofit arm, is supporting Democratic Rep. Ron Barber, a former aide to Giffords, against McSally.
Carusone said the group received a letter from the McSally’s campaign laying out the Republican’s position on access to guns for stalkers convicted of felonies and misdemeanors.
“[Martha] supports the full enforcement of federal laws that are in place to keep guns out of the hands of prohibited persons, including convicted felons (including stalkers), domestic abusers, the mentally ill, and people in the country illegally,” the letter states. It goes on to stress that McSally also “supports adding misdemeanor stalking to the list of criminal offenses that would keep dangerous individuals from obtaining guns in other states where stalking can also be a misdemeanor.”
Carusone said the group “didn’t take the ad down because of pressure or anything.”
“Seven days after our ad went up and after three years of running for office, she has changed her mind,” Carusone said of McSally. “Frankly, we’re happy about [McSally’s position].”
The group has pointed to past statements from McSally’s campaign to portray the Republican as having changed her position on the topic.
(PHOTOS: The Congressional Career of Gabrielle Giffords)
McSally deputy campaign manager Kristen Douglas said in April: McSally is “pro Second Amendment and believes our focus for preventing shootings should be on strengthening our mental health system and enforcing background check laws already on the books, not expanding those laws that will do little to prevent violence and infringe on the rights of law abiding citizens.”
But McSally’s team said Tuesday evening that Americans for Responsible Solutions had never asked for the candidate’s position in the first place.
“Ron Barber’s political allies never asked Martha’s stance on the ‘stalking gap’ before running their disgraceful and false ad, and Martha’s position has never changed on the issue,” McSally campaign spokesman Patrick Ptak said in a statement. “Martha has been a victim of stalking and knows what it’s like first-hand to suffer through that fear. Understandably, her experiences guide her thoughts, and she has always held that convicted stalkers should be prohibited from obtaining firearms in all cases.”
Same ole, same ole. Republicans play prevent defense while lying left wing scum like Giffords and company play offense absent any rules or modicum of truth. McSally should simply tell her constituents that Giffords and her husband are lying bitches relying on a sympathetic public to swallow their lies. But she won’t.
They just wanted McSally to accept their premise to alienate gun owners.
This is precisely why the Republicans are going to lose. I'm sorry folks, but when you don't stand for nothing, you accept the premise of your opponent's argument and you alienate your own base, then you have no support. The GOP is not going to win the Senate and may even lose House seats because of this ridiculous preventative, run out the clock strategy.
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