Democrats have long been uncomfortable around the gun-rights crowd, often resorting to awkward photo-ops to prove their credibility when it comes to guns.
In 2004, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), while running for president, infamously dressed in camouflage for a goose hunt in Ohio, only to decline to carry a carcass because of concern that hed offend animal rights groups. And then there was President Barack Obama , who was forced to release a photo of himself skeet shooting at Camp David because no one believed that hed fired a gun.
So it was remarkable in 2016, as the Democratic Party finally began openly advocating for stricter gun control measures, that one of its own candidates released the most compelling gun-related ad of the cycle.
Jason Kanders Senate campaign in Missouri gained national attention after it began running that ad. In it, Kander, an Afghanistan War veteran, put on a blindfold and assembled an AR-15 before challenging his opponent, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), to do the same. The now-famous spot wasnt created by a focus group or consultant.
I just sort of said offhand to my campaign manager and media guy, Well, Im sure I can put a rifle together a lot faster than the other guy, Kander recalls. And then at some point somebody said, Well can you do it blindfolded? And I said, Ive done it in the dark a lot. Its mostly muscle memory. And it kind of went from there.
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Kander got it on the first take though he tried a few more.
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