Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks used audio from the shooting at the Republican congressional baseball practice in Alexandria last month in a new campaign ad for the Alabama Senate race.
At the opening of the ad, over a black screen, gunshots ring out and voices can be heard saying, “Get down! Stay down!” over sirens in the background.
The ad then cuts to a clip of a reporter asking Brooks, who was on the field during the shooting and helped tend to Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, if his views on the Second Amendment have changed.
“The Second Amendment — the right to bear arms is to help ensure that we always have a republic. So, no, I’m not changing my position on any of the rights that we enjoy as Americans,” Brooks responded.
When asked about the ad, a Scalise spokesperson told NBC, “I guess some people have their own ideas about what’s appropriate.”
In the Republican primary, Brooks is running against former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and Sen. Luther Strange, who was appointed to the seat immediately after Jeff Sessions was appointed to lead the Justice Department.
The Aug. 15 Republican primary requires that a candidate earn at least 50 percent of the vote — or else the top two candidates have a runoff on Sept. 26. As a conservative Republican state, the winner of the nomination will likely become Alabama’s next senator.