New Hampshire Democrats are using the recent mass shooting in Orlando, Fla., to rekindle an issue that has previously caused incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte a headache in her home state.
“As the nation still reels from the devastating and deadly attack on the LGBT community in Orlando, Kelly Ayotte has already come out against taking a common sense step to help prevent similar attacks in the future,” the New Hampshire Democratic Party wrote in a press release on Tuesday.
The statement was circulated shortly after Ayotte, who faces a tough re-election bid against Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, told Buzzfeed she would be “open to working together” with Senate Democrats on legislation that would block individuals placed on government watch lists from legally purchasing firearms, but remains opposed to an existing amendment introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., because it doesn’t contain “sufficient due process protections.”
Ayotte and other Republicans have instead backed a bill that would allow the attorney general to delay gun sales to individuals on the terror watch list up to 72 hours while they confirm their identity and complete an investigation.
The legislation, sponsored by Texas Sen. John Cornyn, would also enable federal authorities to detain an individual if they can prove to a judge that probable cause exists to deny them a firearm transfer.
In the last 48 hours, Democrats in the Granite State have ratcheted up their criticism of Ayotte, claiming she supports a “watered-down sham bill [that] requires a burden of proof that would almost never be met.”
A press release circulated by the NHDP on Wednesday accused Ayotte of trying to “rewrite her record” and in a series of tweets posted later in the day, the party suggested she stands with the “National Rifle Association over U.S. safety” and outright opposes “closing [the] terrorist gun loophole.”
.@KellyAyotte puts special interests ahead of safety of the people she was elected to represent. https://t.co/lqPxp5LYu2 #nhsen #nhpolitics
— NH Democratic Party (@NHDems) June 14, 2016
The bitter attacks against Ayotte’s pro-gun record are reminiscent of the backlash she faced in 2013 after voting against a bipartisan amendment that would have expanded background checks for firearm purchases to gun shows and the Internet.
The legislation was introduced by Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., months after the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., and failed to pass the Senate in April 2013. That same month, Ayotte’s disapproval rating rose from 35 percent to 46 percent in a survey of New Hampshire voters conducted by the left-leaning Public Policy Polling group.
Fifty percent of respondents in the same survey also said Ayotte’s vote against the Manchin-Toomey amendment would make them less likely to support her in the future.
“It’s going to be incredibly difficult for down-ballot first-term senators like Toomey and Ayotte to distinguish themselves from Republicans’ record,” one Democratic campaign operative wrote in an email to the Washington Examiner.
“Where these elections will be decided — in places like the Philadelphia suburbs and Hillsborough County — the gun issue is going to be a real problem,” the same operative suggested.
Despite the attacks Democrats have leveled against her, Ayotte hails from a state with a vibrant gun culture due in part to few local regulations on the sale and ownership of firearms.
A campaign spokeswoman said Ayotte has no qualms about her pro-gun record, nor is she worried about the renewed gun debate negatively impacting her campaign.
“Democrats are attempting to distract voters with misleading attacks that ignore Kelly’s record of voting to prevent those on the terrorist watch list from acquiring guns while also protecting the due process rights of Americans who may be wrongfully on the list,” Liz Johnson told the Examiner.
Johnson claimed Ayotte’s opponents are “playing politics with national security,” and should recognize the New Hampshire senator’s involvement in bipartisan discussions about gun sales to individuals on terror watch lists.
“We should work together to make sure that whether it’s the terror watch list, or smaller no-fly list, in particular, that we address those that shouldn’t have access to firearms,” Ayotte said during a radio interview Wednesday.
The latest Franklin Pierce University-Boston Herald survey of New Hampshire voters, taken before the Orlando massacre, showed Ayotte leading Hassan by a single percentage point — 48-47 percent.
