New Ad Slams Gardner for Siding With Trump and NRA Amid the Covid-19 Crisis, and Opposing Background Checks on all Gun Sales
NEW YORK – Today, Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund (“Everytown Victory Fund”) launched a new ad against Senator Cory Gardner, “No Wonder,” which slams Gardner for siding with Donald Trump amid the coronavirus pandemic, and benefiting from millions of dollars from the gun lobby while voting against common-sense gun safety legislation like background checks on all gun sales. Everytown Victory Fund is spending $1 million to air the ad in the Denver TV market and to run it on digital platforms statewide.
WATCH “No Wonder.”
“Coloradans know the pain of both mass shootings and daily gun violence all too well, but that hasn’t stopped Cory Gardner from accepting the gun lobby’s money and blocking common-sense gun safety bills,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “Gardner has made it clear he votes in lockstep with Trump and the gun lobby regardless of what the people of Colorado want, so Everytown is going to help the people vote him out.”
“Even as thousands of people die from not one but two public health crises – gun violence and Coronavirus – Cory Gardner continues to side with Trump and the gun lobby, at the expense of the health and safety of Colorado families,” said Jessica Price, a volunteer with the Colorado chapter of Moms Demand Action. “This election is life and death for Colorado.”
Gardner has consistently voted against common-sense gun safety legislation while benefiting from $3.8 million from the NRA — more than any other member of Colorado’s congressional delegation, and more than almost any other member of Congress.
Gardner’s opponent, Governor John Hickenlooper, has taken on the gun lobby and won. As governor, Hickenlooper signed legislation to require background checks on all gun sales and limit high-capacity magazines, making Colorado one of the first purple states to enact sweeping gun safety reform. Hickenlooper is running on a common-sense gun safety platform that includes support for federal legislation to require background checks on all gun sales.
A May survey found that political messages focused on COVID-19 and gun violence were among the most effective at shifting voter support in 2020. Another May survey found that in the intensity of Americans’ support for common-sense gun safety measures had surged amid the pandemic, with a significant majority of Americans viewing background checks on all gun sales as “more important” now than before the pandemic began.
Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Victory Fund plan to spend $60 million on the 2020 elections — double what they spent during the 2018 elections, and more than any gun safety opponent, including the NRA, reported spending on the 2016 elections.