The National Rifle Association is going on the air to rebut a night’s worth of calls to tighten the nation’s gun laws at the Democratic National Convention, reports Politico. The organization’s ad argues that Hillary Clinton would take away individuals’ right to self-defense. It features a rape victim who says she embraced firearms after her attack. It will start running today on national cable and digitally in “key battleground states.” The aim of the spot is to present a sympathetic counterpoint to the parade of gun violence victims on the convention stage, including former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Az.) and parents of victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando.
“The thought of owning a handgun terrified me. Until one night a man attacked me,” says Kim Carban, who was raped as a college student in 2006. “My fear of guns disappeared when I got my second chance at life.” An announcer says that “your right to own a gun for self-defense is at risk in this election. Hillary Clinton would take away your rights.” Carban confronted President Obama in a televised town hall in January. She said that based on her experience, carrying a gun “seems like my basic responsibility at this point.” She told Obama his administration was making it harder for her to own a gun, and were making her family less safe. Clinton says she supports the rights of law-abiding people to own guns. She wants to keep them out of the hands of dangerous people by background checks, which the NRA has opposed. NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker said, “Hillary is lying about her position on the Second Amendment.”