Anti-Gun Group Runs Ads: "Shame On You Senator Heidi Heitkamp"

To me Senator Heidi Heitkamp’s recent comments about gun control were just more of the blatant posturing of a left-wing politician desperate to ingratiate herself with a center-right constituency that we’ve come to expect from her. Heitkamp held on to a Senate seat Democrats have held since 1960 by the slimmest of margins.

She knows what the score is, but if you listened to her words in context Heitkamp (ever the savvy lawyer) gave herself plenty of wiggle room. Heitkamp calling Obama’s proposals for gun control (which he hasn’t even really made yet) “extreme” is what got headlines, but she didn’t rule out gun control. She said everything should be “on the table.”

Including, you know, gun control. If Democrats need Heitkamp’s vote to pass a new assault weapons ban they’ll almost certainly get it.

But perception is reality in politics, and right now the anti-gun left views Heitkamp as a threat. And so they’re retaliating:

WASHINGTON — Gun control advocates are launching a hard-hitting series of ads on Tuesday targeting newly elected Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), who has criticized gun law reforms.

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence will run advertisements in the Washington publications Politico and Roll Call in addition to North Dakota newspapers, calling out Heitkamp for criticizing comprehensive gun control reform.

“No parent should have to send their children to school wondering if they will come home,” the ad reads. “Shame on you, Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) for telling the country on Sunday that the Obama Administration’s response to Newtown — which may include universal background checks and a ban on assault rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines — is “extreme.”

You can see the ad before, which is the usual pile of hyperbolic nonsense that we’ve come to expect from the anti-gun people. But, again, I don’t think the anti-gun people have anything to worry about.

Heitkamp will be with them, in action if not in words.