Which U.S. Senate candidate is most on-target with gun-owning voters in Kentucky?
Well, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes each hopes to claim the allegiance of that voting bloc, given what they did Friday – the day before deer season opens in Kentucky.
McConnell, the Republican incumbent seeking re-election next year, picked up a “Defender of Freedom” award from the National Rifle Association and set up a “Sportsmen for Team Mitch” group.
Apparently in response, Grimes’ campaign released a photo of her with an actual gun, aiming at something on her family farm in Maysville, Ky., and invited the senator to a shoot-out.
McConnell was among Senate Republicans who opposed efforts earlier this year to tighten laws on gun purchases following the December 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that took the lives of 20 children and six adults.
Grimes said last summer she supported expanded background checks for gun purchases.
According to an October Quinnipiac University Poll, 89 percent of Americans support universal background checks for gun buyers.
“The liberal establishment in Washington doesn’t understand Kentucky values and it doesn’t want to,” McConnell said in a statement. “That’s why I’ve been one of the biggest champions of protecting our constitutional right to bear arms, defending Kentucky’s hunting grounds and passing legislation to allow Kentucky sportsmen the freedom to fish.”
“So as long as Washington attacks our heritage, I’ll fight back,” the senator said. “I’m proud to accept the NRA’s Defender of Freedom award and I’m honored and grateful to have the support of Kentucky’s sportsmen and women. You can always count on mine.”
Grimes invited McConnell to target practice.
“As an NRA member, my strong support for the Second Amendment is unquestioned,” she said in a statement. “I am proud of Kentucky’s long-held gun ownership, sporting and hunting traditions. It is unfortunate that Senator McConnell is desperate to mislead Kentucky voters about my strong support for the Second Amendment.”
“In the Senate, I will protect my fellow Kentuckians’ right to keep and bear arms,” she added. “Whenever he’s not busy pandering to Washington lobbyists, I welcome Senator McConnell to come shoot with me at the range any day.”
