Sen. Rand Paul is raising money for a conservative gun rights group, which is targeting several Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
The National Association for Gun Rights, a group that has criticized both the GOP and the National Rifle Association for being soft on gun rights, has already spent $50,000 on broadcast advertisements in Virginia, including Cantor's 7th Congressional District. The ads accuse Republicans of helping President Barack Obama pass gun control legislation.
Though Cantor has an NRA "A" rating, one National Association for Gun Rights ad accuses Cantor of "wanting to pass Obama's gun control schemes," and says Cantor "doesn't sound like a Virginian or a Republican anymore; Eric Cantor sounds like someone else." The ad includes a graphic of Cantor's face morphing into Obama's.
When challenged about Paul's involvement with the group, Paul's chief of staff
told Politico, "Rand signs normal, run-of-the-mill activist emails and letters for numerous groups and this is one of them. That's all he's ever done for them, he's not affiliated with the group in any way, he doesn't control how they decide their activism should take place in terms of who the people are that need to be shored up on an issue."
Still, when Rep. Scott Rigell, another Virginia Republican attacked by the group, complained to Paul's office about the ads, he was told that Paul would not disassociate himself from the organization.
Cantor has previously thrown his support behind the proposal for a national database for background checks similar to the one put in place in Virginia following the Virginia Tech shooting.