Progressives attack Mitch McConnell again on guns

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is on the wrong side of an assault weapons ban, a progressive group argues Monday in a new attack ad released in the congressman’s home state of Kentucky.

Gary Nutt, a Vietnam veteran and hunter from Cub Run, Ky., says in the commercial, paid for by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), that last season he killed one deer with one shot. "I’d be a pretty bad hunter if I needed an assault rifle to shoot that buck,” Nutt said.

The ad hits out at McConnell, up for re-election in 2014, for taking money from the gun industry. The ad debuts ahead of a Senate hearing this week on an assault weapons ban—something President Barack Obama's administration wants after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The committee believes McConnell's opposition to a ban could lead to loss of votes for him this year.

The ad is set to run on broadcast and cable in Lexington, Louisville, Bowling Green and rural Paducah markets and has an initial buy of $25,000, according to the committee. Monday's ad brings the total spent by the PCCC on McConnell to $100,000.

McConnell has yet to draw any major challenges for his re-election race, but admits he is a likely target of conservatives and tea partiers interested in making an example of the Republican Senate leader.

Democrats are also interested.

Actress Ashley Judd said she is considering a run for the Democratic nomination for the Kentucky U.S. Senate seat, but has yet to take any serious steps. That hasn't stopped McConnell's campaign from preemptively attacking her potential bid.

The McConnell campaign last week released a Web ad mocking Judd as well as other potential Democratic challengers.