Captain Mark Kelly Responds to Senator Kelly Ayotte’s Continued Attempts to Mislead Voters on Her Record of Voting Against Background Checks for Gun Sales, Giving In to the Gun Lobby
September 30, 2016 — Navy combat veteran and retired astronaut Captain Mark Kelly, the Co-Founder of the gun violence prevention organization Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC (ARS PAC) , today responded to Senator Kelly Ayotte’s continued attempts to mislead voters about her record of giving in to the Washington gun lobby and voting to protect loopholes in federal law that allow felons, domestic abusers, and terrorists to buy a gun without a criminal background check.
During the first debate in the New Hampshire Senate race, gun violence prevention once again took center stage as the moderator asked about the candidates’ records and positions on reducing gun violence.
In response, ARS PAC-endorsed candidate Governor Maggie Hassan proactively voiced her support for closing these loopholes in federal law, standing up to the Washington gun lobby, and helping pass meaningful legislation to keep guns out of the wrong hands.
The lengthy exchange on guns comes on the heels of Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC’s new ad, “ Tick Tock ,” which began airing yesterday, to hold Senator Ayotte accountable for her record of voting to protect the loopholes in federal law that let dangerous people like felons and domestic abusers buy guns without a criminal background check in unlicensed sales at gun shows and through the internet. The new ad is backed by more than $1 million and is part of a seven-figure investment in television advertising by ARS PAC in the New Hampshire Senate race this year.
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.”
“Senator Ayotte continues to try to cover up her record of giving in to the Washington gun lobby and voting against responsible change that protect families from gun violence. When asked directly by the debate moderator whether she supported closing the loopholes in our background check laws that let someone in New Hampshire buy a gun without a background check at a gun show or through a stranger they met online, Senator Ayotte gave the same talking points that the gun lobby’s leaders in Washington do,” said ARS PAC CO-Founder Captain Mark Kelly. “And then there was Governor Maggie Hassan, who gave a clear, powerful response to the question: She supports requiring background checks for potential gun purchasers at gun shows and through online sales. We need more leaders like Maggie Hassan – leaders who will protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners like Gabby and me, and who also have the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and to stand up for responsibility.”
UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT FROM FIRST DEBATE BETWEEN SENATOR KELLY AYOTTE AND GOVERNOR MAGGIE HASSAN
Moderator:What if any federal gun legislation do you support, specifically around expanding background checks and addressing terrorists having access to guns?
Kelly Ayotte: This issue is very important, how we work with law enforcement in our state. The most important thing that we can do is to make sure that we enforce our laws and do that very, very aggressively. What I have supported is making sure that we help fix the background check system. The mental health records that are supposed to be there by law, have not gotten there. New Hampshire is avoiding to do that I believe, there’s been a way to do that. Reforming our mental health systems in general, making sure there’s a system that serves people and identifies issues early on. I also believe there needs to be much more prosecutions. There’s an invisible record for prosecuting gun violence crimes and also violations of our background check system right now. I worked in a bipartisan way after the Orlando shooting to introduce legislation to keep guns from those who are too dangerous to get on a commercial flight—while also making sure that we protected the Constitutional rights of law abiding citizens, which is equally important in all of this. And so to me, this is an important issue that we work together on in enforcing our laws, but also making sure we protect people’s Constitutional rights.
Moderator: Thank you. Maggie Hassan, what gun laws, specifically, would you support?
Maggie Hassan:Well, thank you. I am very concerned that we still have laws on the books that permit terrorists and other people who shouldn’t have guns to get them online or privately at gun shows. And what we didn’t hear unfortunately, from my opponent just now, is her rationale for, again, voting against expanded background checks. Because, the bipartisan effort that she just referred to is the very least that the Congress of the United States should have done. Yes, if you can’t fly on a plane you shouldn’t be able to buy guns, but there’s still this big loophole if you can’t fly on a plane because Senator Ayotte and others, standing with the gun lobby, voted against expanded background checks. Those same people can go online and to gun shows, and in fact we know from the intelligence that we’re gathering that ISIS knows it. They know the United States is really easy for them to circumvent the kind of laws that we have and get weapons. So that doesn’t make us more safe and it’s a real concern of mine as we know, we have to do more to defeat terrorism. And we do have to do more in the very narrow circumstances…And most people with mental illness are safe. When someone with mental illness has been adjudicated to be dangerous to themselves or others, we should have a system in place that prohibits them having a gun. We have tried to do in New Hampshire now for a couple of years and the gun lobby has pushed back at us. I’ll continue to stand up for the gun lobby, as I have, and it’s one of the major differences between my opponent and myself.