The tight race between Congressman Ron Barber (D-CD2) and Republican challenger Martha McSally took another turn last week, when McSally objected to a TV ad being run by Americans for Responsible Solutions, the political action committee formed by former congresswoman Gabby Giffords.
Giffords, who survived being shot through the head in a Tucson mass shooting that claimed the life of six and wounded a dozen people besides the former congresswoman, formed the group to push for gun-safety measures in the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre.
Barber, who served as Giffords’ district director, was among those wounded in the Congress on Your Corner shooting on Jan. 8, 2011. He was shot in the face and in the leg.
The “Stalker Gap” ad, which is backed by a six-figure media buy on local and cable stations, is undeniably hard-hitting: It features Vicki Walker, a woman whose husband Daniel Walker and daughter Kara Walker were gunned down by Kara’s ex-boyfriend, Daniel Renwick, in 2000.
Renwick had made threats to kill Kara and her family just months earlier. There were plenty of signs of trouble: Renwick had beat Kara up and roared off while drunk with their child. After he was stopped by police, he eluded an officer who attempted to take him into custody and sped away, sometimes reaching speeds of 70 mph while the baby was in the back seat, according to a Tucson Citizen account.
In the ad, a tearful Vicki recalls that “My daughter was just 19 when she told her boyfriend their relationship was over, and he got a gun and he shot her and my husband. He had threatened her before. I knew—I just knew.”
A narrator then says: “Martha McSally opposes making it harder for stalkers to get a gun.”
After the ad aired, McSally cried foul, saying the ad was “personally offensive” because she herself was 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 prepared statement. “I’ve had threats made against me and wasn’t even safe in my own home or my car where my stalker broke in and held me in a hostage-like situation.”
McSally added that the ad was “degrading to all women and victims who have experienced this pain.”
Giffords’ husband, retired astronaut and U.S. Navy captain Mark Kelly, told the Weekly that he and Giffords stood by the ad.
“As a former elected official, Gabby understands that if you’re running to represent your community at any level, it’s essential that you make your positions clear on the big policy questions—and that includes the question of who in our country should have access to firearms,” Kelly said via email. “Undeniably, one category of people that should be denied access to guns is stalkers. This is about changing the law to protect lives.”
There is a gap in the law that allows people who are convicted of stalking to buy firearms. As it now stands, those convicted of felony stalking at the state level have their names added to the federal “prohibited possessor” list that is used for background checks when licensed firearm dealers sell guns.
But those convicted of misdemeanor stalking do not have their names added to the list.
Stalking laws vary from state to state (and federal law only addresses stalking if someone crosses a state line while harassing a victim). In Arizona, stalking is a felony and anyone convicted of the crime is prohibited from buying a gun from a licensed dealer until their rights are restored, although they can still purchase a firearm from a second-hand dealer. But many other states treat stalking as a misdemeanor, which means those convicted of the crime do not have their names added to the list of prohibited possessors.
Sen. Amy Klobucher (D-Minn.) last year introduced the Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act of 2013, which would add the names of those convicted of misdemeanor stalking or of abusing someone they are dating to the list of those who are prohibited from possessing a firearm, but the legislation went nowhere.
McSally spokesman Patrick Ptak declined to discuss the details of McSally’s stalking episode, so it’s unclear whether police were involved or if her stalker was convicted of any crime.
McSally has previously said that she opposes changes in the law that would put more people on the list of prohibited possessors. In April, Team McSally deputy campaign manager Kristen Douglas told ABC News that McSally is “pro Second Amendment and believes our focus for preventing shootings should be on strengthening our mental health system and enforcing background check laws already on the books, not expanding those laws that will do little to prevent violence and infringe on the rights of law abiding citizens.”
When asked how much she supported the goals of the National Rifle Association on a scale from one to 10, McSally told a crowd of Republican supporters earlier this year that she saw herself as a 10. The NRA opposes legislation to close the “Stalker Gap.”
But earlier this week, Ptak told the Weekly that McSally does support expanding gun laws by “adding misdemeanor stalking to the list of criminal offenses that would keep dangerous individuals from obtaining guns in other states where stalking can also be a misdemeanor. Martha strongly believes we need to place a greater emphasis on the cause of gun violence by addressing our broken mental health care system and enhancing our ability to recognize and treat signs of mental illness.”
Pia Carusone, a senior adviser to Americans for Responsible Solutions, said she was pleased that McSally was moving away from her blanket opposition to expanding background checks.
“We’re happy to see Martha McSally has changed her position on making it illegal for convicted stalkers to legally acquire firearms,” Carusone said. “We hope her evolution on this issue continues.”
Carusone said that given McSally’s newly announced position, Americans for Responsible Solutions would take down the ad about 24 hours ahead of the planned schedule and seven days after it began running.
“Stalker Gap” was condemned by the Arizona Republic editorial page, which called it “base and vile” for linking McSally to the killing of Daniel and Kara Walker.
Kelly said that pointing out McSally’s statements on laws related to gun violence—and their consequences—is fair game.
“Our goal in founding this organization was to communicate directly, honestly and fairly with voters about where their candidates and elected officials stand on laws that reduce gun violence,” Kelly said. “We won’t be deterred, but will never attack character and we will never veer from fact.”
Team Barber rejected McSally’s calls to condemn the ad.
“Southern Arizonans want to know exactly where both candidates stand on important issues, like keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals and domestic abusers,” Barber spokeswoman Ashley Nash-Hahn said. “Ron Barber supports common sense steps like background checks for gun shows and online sales because stalkers and domestic abusers should not be able to buy guns.”
This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2014.
Kelly is the Koch brothers in disguise. Of course he is going to stand by the ad, he couldn’t possibly admit HE is wrong. And as a man who constantly exploits his retired military rank and former profession he should be ashamed, not to mention be sanctioned by the military and NASA.
But is he wrong, Mr. Simpson? And did you ever hear of the pot and the kettle? Just how often have you seen a McSally ad in print or on the air, that makes no reference to her status as Air Force Colonel who served her country for 26 years, of which of course 4 were as a college undergraduate? Even her signs contain an eagle, perhaps a subtle reminder of her rank. And meanwhile this country’s obsession with guns continues nearly unabated and continues to require those who know better to challenge it. Keep telling it like it is, Mark and Gabby.
You didn’t mention George Soros lengthy military career. This was all I could find.
http://commieblaster.com/george-soros-fund/
That looks like a war on America!
Frankly my dear, he IS wrong.
Here is a great article on the “defining moment” for Gabby Giffords.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/editorial/2014/09/19/giffords-mcsally-ad/15886733/
Sorry, but I do have to disagree with misdemeanors precluding someone from owning a firearm.
Mr. Simpson, having read your comments, I don’t see that you have identified anything that the Gifford ad said that was inaccurate. Are you simply arguing that it is “wrong” because you disagree with the political position advocated by the ad, i.e., that misdemeanor stalkers should be denied access to firearms?
No, Jeffrey, it isn’t about the stalking, it’s about the emotional appeal of this woman who KNEW the man had a court imposed restraining and still told him where her daughter was. The court went as far as it legally could since the daughter who was this man’s ex~wife would not file charges against him for domestic violence. And which law is it McSally opposes and which PART of that particular law is she opposing?
So you’re right, there IS truth in this ad but not enough.
…..such a sad state of affairs for us all. I will be watching for the fall-out from the book from Gabby and I know that Mark will be taking care to shepard over her in this time of trouble.
So much lawlessness in our country these last few years, institutions breaking down, Constitutional maxims seem to no longer matter, I have great fear the Second Amendment may be brushed under the rug soon, but, with this emotionally charged issue at hand, not so easily.
Everybody feels sorry for Gabby for getting shot and marrying the little D—head, who will parade her around for his own self grandeur. I dont know what was/is worse.
I’ve seen a website put out by the brother-in-law of Vicki that states it was Vicki who told the killer where her daughter was that day! Evidently, she didn’t think he was a threat to them just before the killing! My heart goes out to the family; however, this isn’t a story worth putting out on the airways. Martha McSally had no connection with Vicki Walker nor her family!
Republicans seem to be worried, guess their claims of fiscal intellectual genius are not sounding to good anymore after one sees how well they did nationally with Bush/Cheney 2000-2008 and how they have had how long now 8 years to prove their theories, ideologies for Arizona! I guess November post election night will tell the story and all the funny polls done by partisan hacks will be meaningless!
For those of us who own guns, have no fear of ever losing them to confiscation (in any form), and still believe reasonable gun control is a good idea, I am tired of the knee jerk reactions against even a little discussion amongst lawmakers, much less actual laws. What a lazy, creepy bunch of officeholders we have these days — sucking taxpayers dry and doing NO good work at all. This lady has the right to speak up in ANY format or place she wants, and Barber was shot and almost killed himself.
ay te wacho – there were so many relevant facts to the story that were left out of this commercial that it should insult your intelligence. I’m all for free speech, but when people’s sympathies are being manipulated for purely political purposes, the perpetrators of the half-truths lose credibility in my eyes.
The Law that Gabby and Mark’s Anti-American Organization pushed for, would have made me a Felon, for handing my friend’s grandson, my pistol, to shoot on my property…HOW is that going to prevent Crime? They are just another arm on the Liberal Beast, trying to Control America, by following the Alinsky Playbook. It would be VERY simple for Obama to sign an EO, giving Civilians access to the NICS system, but they are not about Crime Control…they are JUST for Control.