Arizona Republican congressional candidate Martha McSally has called for a gun control ad accusing her of opposing making it harder for stalkers to get a gun because, McSally said, she is a victim of stalking.
The TV ad by the pro-gun control group Americans for Responsible Solutions, features a woman named Vicki retelling how her daughter and husband were killed by her daughter’s ex-boyfriend who had been stalking her.
“I don’t think she really understands how important that is to a lot of women,” Vicki said in the ad. Americans for Responsible Solutions made a six-figure buy on the ad, according to Roll Call.
McSally (pictured), who is challenging Rep. Ron Barber (D-AZ), in response, has called for the ad to be taken down since she herself is the victim of stalking.
“As someone who’s experienced being stalked, I know what it feels like to worry constantly about when and where your stalker will appear next and what he’ll do,” McSally said in a statement according to The Arizona Republic. McSally went on to call for Barber to denounce the ad.
“I call on him to show that the integrity of women is more important than political gain,” McSally said. “He needs to denounce these degrading ads and demand they be pulled down.”
In response, Hayley Zachary, the executive director of Americans for Responsible Solutions, a group started by former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) and her husband Mark Kelly, suggested that McSally isn’t really addressing the ad.
“We’re confused about what the McSally campaign’s complaint about our ad is,” Zachary said. “Has her position changed? Our current laws include a stalker gap that allows convicted stalkers to pass a background check and get a gun.”
Zachary said that the Americans For Responsible Solutions PAC “stands by our ad because we believe that voters deserve to know that Martha McSally refuses to support common-sense steps like expanding background checks to keep guns out of stalkers’ hands, even though nearly everyone in Southern Arizona supports these middle-of-the-road policies.”
Watch the ad below:
