IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

The RNC blasts Obama for not passing gun reform bill

The Republican National Committee is skewering President Obama for failing to pass legislation on gun control, despite GOP lawmakers blocking the initiative in
Screengrab (cropped slightly) from an RNC ad, showing President Obama hugging a bereaved mother from Sandy Hook. Editors Note: Image has been cropped. (Credit: Republican National Committee.)
Screengrab (cropped slightly) from an RNC ad, showing President Obama hugging a bereaved mother from Sandy Hook. Editors Note: Image has been cropped.

The Republican National Committee is skewering President Obama for failing to pass legislation on gun control, despite GOP lawmakers blocking the initiative in the first place.

The ad, called “The First 100 days,” shows Obama hugging Nicole Hockley, the mother of a Sandy Hook victim, and criticizes the president for not having much legislative success in the sequester, his so-called reluctance to stay out of the immigration reform debate , and yes, gun control.

In reality, Republicans and the National Rifle Association had been rallying against the bill, which would have strengthened background checks. The amendment failed 54-46, with 41 GOPers and five rural-state Democrats blocking the plan.

“Ninety percent of Democrats in the Senate just voted for that idea,” the president said after the amendment—catalyzed by the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.—failed. “But it’s not going to happen because 90% of Republicans in the Senate just voted against that idea.” He called the failure a “shameful day for Washington.”

The ad also repeatedly played Obama’s response when asked by ABC News’ Jonathan Karl at a press conference earlier this week if he had “enough juice” to get the rest of his agenda through Congress.

Obama had joked, “Maybe I should just pack up and go home.”

The Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse called the ad “disgraceful” and “disgusting” on Twitter.

When the RNC was asked why it chose to use the image of the Newtown mother in the ad, a spokesman offered little in the way of details, telling msnbc's Martin Bashir that "ABC News did a segment on Obama's struggles during his first 100 days of his second term because whether it be numerous legislative defeats or low poll numbers [or] very important numbers including healthcare and the economy, Obama is not governing from a position of strength."