An ad from gun control advocacy group Giffords PAC used footage of the Columbine High School shooting and other violent mass shootings to target GOP Senate candidate Joe O’Dea, prompting criticism.
“Here in Colorado it just keeps happening, but instead of standing up for Colorado families, MAGA Republican Joe O’Dea is standing with the gun lobby, opposing Common Sense gun safety reforms like closing loopholes and keeping guns out of the hands of criminals,” the narrator in the ad says, as brief footage of people fleeing the Columbine shooting and the Aurora movie theater shooting flash on the screen.
“Here in Colorado we felt the pain of gun violence so many times but Joe O’Dea sides with the gun lobby not us,” the ad says.
O’Dea’s campaign called the ad a “dishonest attack” that is “disgusting even for the low-life political hacks who run Joe Biden’s political operation” in a press release.
Supporters of O’Dea also came to his defense, saying his plan of “more cops and a criminal justice system getting serious about enforcing the numerous gun laws already on the books — will do more to protect Colorado than a bunch of politicians in Washington, D.C. passing another law,” according to Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Shrader.
“They’re using this tragedy without consideration of victims and survivors. It’s shameful,” said school safety advocate John Castillo, who has argued for arming school staff to prevent violent attacks.
“Joe O’Dea has a plan to protect our communities. Cut the federal bureaucracy to fund more cops and more border security,” said Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers. “Invoking images of Columbine and Aurora is a new kind of tawdry, and as Colorado has proven, more gun laws don’t stop these tragedies. More cops in our communities and schools will.”
Giffords PAC, which endorsed Democratic incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet in the Colorado Senate race, said last week that it will spend $2.5 million to run the ad on TV and online.
“Joe O’Dea’s support of the gun lobby’s ‘guns everywhere’ agenda is wrong for Colorado,” said Peter Ambler, executive director and co-founder, Giffords. “Coloradans know the consequences of gun violence all too well, and we are confident they will oppose Joe O’Dea in large part because of his refusal to keep communities safe from this public health crisis.”