Congressman Mo Brooks is defending his latest Senate advertisement, despite facing criticism for invoking last month’s GOP baseball shooting in the ad.
The new 30-second ad, titled “Second Amendment,” opens with audio of gunshots and shouting edited over a black screen with the words, “June 14: A Bernie Sanders supporter fires on Republican Congressmen.” A campaign spokesman for Brooks confirmed to CNN that the audio is indeed from the actual baseball shooting, as captured in a video acquired by the New York Post.
The words, “Mo Brooks gives his belt as a tourniquet to help the wounded,” then flashes across the screen as audio of sirens can be heard in the background. During the shooting, the Alabama Republican reportedly removed his belt and used it as a tourniquet for a staffer who had been shot in the leg.
“What’s the liberal media immediately ask?” the ad then reads.
Video footage shows Brooks subsequently being asked by reporters in a scrum about whether the shooting had changed his views on the Second Amendment.
“The Second Amendment and the right to bear arms is to help ensure that we always have a republic,” Brooks responds in the video. “So no, I’m not changing my position on any of the rights we enjoy as Americans.”
Brooks was one of several Republican lawmakers in attendance at the early morning practice for the GOP congressional baseball team last month, where a gunman opened fire.
“I was on deck, about to hit home plate, and I hear a loud ‘Bam!’ And I look around, and behind third base … I see a rifle,” Brooks told CNN’s “New Day” moments after witnessing the shooting that morning. Five people were wounded in the attack, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who was upgraded to fair condition on July 13 after undergoing a surgery to treat infection.
Responding to the ad, Scalise spokesman Chris Bond wrote in an email to CNN: “I guess some people have their own ideas about what’s appropriate, don’t they?”
In a tweet posted on his personal Twitter account, Scalise’s chief of staff Brett Horton also said that the ad made him feel sick. “The day of the shooting, while waiting at the hospital, I avoided the news/audio/video as much as possible. This makes my stomach turn,” Horton tweeted Monday.
Brooks told CNN that he stands by the ad.
“I don’t know of anything more compelling than to have personally gone through what is on our TV ad and let it speak to the people of Alabama about my commitment to the Second Amendment right to bear arms,” Brooks told CNN in a phone interview Monday afternoon.
“The ad makes my stomach turn too,” the Republican lawmaker said. “The words you hear on the video and the gunshots that were fired, I heard all of it. And some of those shots were fired within five feet of my head.”
“That just emphasizes my commitment to the Second Amendment,” Brooks added. “It’s one thing to talk the talk, it’s another thing to actually live through what that ad portrays and still defend the right to bear arms.”
A campaign spokesman for Brooks confirmed that the ad will run on broadcast television, cable and online, but could not comment on how much the campaign spent or how long the ad will run.
Brooks also defended his ad on Twitter earlier Monday, tweeting, “I’m not changing my position on the Second Amendment despite being targeted for assassination by a liberal.”
Brooks announced his campaign for the Alabama Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in May.
Since his announcement, Brooks has released campaign ads touting his conservative policies on gun rights and immigration reform, including a promise to filibuster on the Senate floor until Congress approves funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall.