ARS PAC Responds to Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s False Claims of Standing Up to Washington Special Interests with New Digital Ad Highlighting Her Record of Going to Bat for the Washington Gun Lobby, Voting Against Gun Background Checks
September 12, 2016 – The gun violence prevention organization Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC (ARS PAC) announced today it is launching a new 30-second digital ad in the New Hampshire Senate race, “At Bat for the Gun Lobby,” in response to Senator Kelly Ayotte’s false claims in a recent ad, “Batting,” that she has stood up to Washington special interests. The new ad by ARS PAC highlights Senator Ayotte’s record of giving in to the Washington gun lobby and voting to protect the loopholes in federal law that let dangerous people like felons and domestic abusers buy guns without a criminal background check. ARS PAC-endorsed candidate Governor Maggie Hassan has voiced her support for closing those loopholes in federal law.
The new ad is part of a six-figure investment in digital communications by ARS PAC in the New Hampshire Senate race.
As part of its 2016 “Vocal Majority Campaign” to mobilize millions of Americans to make the election a referendum on gun violence prevention, already this year ARS PAC has aired two ads (“ here ” and “ here ”), each backed by six-figure buys, in the New Hampshire Senate race to hold Senator Ayotte accountable for voting against laws that help keep guns out of the wrong hands. Click here to watch “Safety,” and click here to watch ARS PAC’s most recent television ad in the race, “Mislead.”
“In New Hampshire, Senator Ayotte talks about making our families and communities safer, but in Washington, she stands with the corporate gun lobby to protect dangerous loopholes in our gun laws,” said ARS PAC Executive Director Peter Ambler. “Now, Senator Ayotte is trying to fool voters into thinking she voted to close the loopholes in our background check system. Granite State voters deserve to know who Senator Ayotte is really fighting for when she goes to Washington: the gun lobby.”
Senator Ayotte has voted repeatedly against more criminal background checks for gun sales. In April 2013, Senator Ayotte voted against a bipartisan proposal to close the loopholes in federal law that let felons, domestic abusers, and the dangerously mentally ill buy a gun without a criminal background check at gun shows and through the Internet, even though February 2013 research found that 91 percent of New Hampshire voters – including 90 percent of gun owners – supported the measure. In December 2015 and in June 2016, Senator Ayotte once again voted to protect the loopholes in our background check system. Click here to read a memo on Senator Ayotte’s record of voting against requiring criminal background checks for more gun sales.
TRANSCRIPT: “At Bat for the Gun Lobby”
In Washington, D.C., Kelly Ayotte went to bat for the gun lobby.
Nearly nine out of 10 Granite Staters support universal background checks; Republicans. Democrats, police, and gun owners all agree.
But when Kelly Ayotte was in Congress, she voted to keep the background check loophole that allows criminals and the dangerously mentally ill to get guns.
Not once. Not twice. But three times.
Kelly Ayotte. She goes to bat for the gun lobby. Not New Hampshire.