Gabby Giffords group goes after senators who voted against gun control measures

Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (left), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (right). (AP)

The group co-founded by former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband is rolling out a series of radio ads starting Wednesday against Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell and Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte, calling them out for voting against last week’s gun control legislation.

The ads, aimed at women, go up in Kentucky against McConnell and in New Hampshire against Ayotte and will saturate the airwaves over the next two weeks.

“The ads highlight McConnell and Ayotte’s putting loyalty to the special interest gun lobby in Washington instead of supporting wildly popular sensible policies that would keep their communities safer,” the group Americans for Responsible Solutions said in a statement to FoxNews.com. “In Kentucky, 82 percent of people support background checks; in New Hampshire, 89 percent of residents support them.”

Last week, the Senate rejected a series of gun control bills that would have tightened background checks for buyers, loosened restrictions on carrying concealed weapons across state lines and banned both assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Giffords accused senators who opposed the new regulations of "cowardice," in a piece published in the New York Times' op-ed page.

Two years ago, Giffords was among 13 people wounded when a gunman opened fire as she met with constituents in a Tucson, Ariz., shopping mall, killing six others. She and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, had lobbied for the bills' passage.

“As Gabby said last week, if we can’t keep our communities safe with the Congress we have, we will work to change Congress,” Pia Carusone, executive director of ARS said. “Senator McConnell and Senator Ayotte turned their backs on their constituents at home in order to do the bidding in Washington of the corporate gun lobby. We’re going to make sure their constituents know that, effective immediately.”

In New Hampshire, the ads will air in Concord, Manchester, Keene and Seacoast, ARS said. In Kentucky, they’ll run in Louisville and Lexington.

In the 60 second radio spot against Ayotte, two women can be heard talking about the congresswoman and how she “ignored” them.

“This was common sense legislation written by a Republican and a Democrat. Supported by law enforcement. And it protected Second Amendment rights. But Ayotte voted against it anyway,” the women are heard saying.

The New Hampshire GOP said in a statement to FoxNews.com: “What the ad doesn't say is that Sen. Ayotte worked on legislation to strengthen the nation’s flawed background check system and helped pass legislation to improve the mental health system.”

The spot against McConnell begins with a montage of news clips from the Newtown, Conn., shooting. The announcer starts by saying, “We watched. We listened. We felt it. Newtown.”

Last year, 26 people, including 20 children, were gunned down inside the elementary school in Newtown.

Calls to McConnell’s office for comment were not immediately returned.