Rep's Campaign Ad Uses Footage From Mass Shooting

Republican Representative Mo Brooks survived the mass shooting at a congressional baseball practice last month in Alexandria, Va., and now he is using his experience as a campaign ad, the Guardian reports. On June 14 James Hodgkinson opened fire on a group of Republican lawmakers, injuring Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, two Capitol police officers, and a congressional staffer. Brooks, who is running in the Republican primary for the Alabama Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, opens his ad with the sound of gunfire and the words "June 14: A Bernie Sanders supporter fires on Republican Congressmen." The ad then shows a member of the "liberal media" asking Brooks if the shooting changed his view on the "gun situation in America." Brooks says it hasn't and won't.

The 30-second spot, titled "Second Amendment," was released on Monday and was immediately criticized by members of Scalise's staff, the Washington Post reports. The congressman's chief of staff, Brett Horton, tweeted that the ad made his "stomach turn." And in an email, Scalise spokesman Chris Bond wrote, "I guess some people have their own ideas about what's appropriate, don’t they?" Scalise was left in critical condition following the shooting, but on Monday he videoconferenced with Congressional colleagues for the first time, New York Magazine reports. (More Steve Scalise stories.)