A Republican state senator in Virginia changed a Facebook campaign ad Friday after her Democratic challenger called the pro-Second Amendment post “violent rhetoric," according to a report.
State Sen. Amanda Chase’s original ad showed her at a gun range and read “I’m not afraid to shoot down gun groups," prompting her opponent Amanda Pohl to call for an apology, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
“This kind of rhetoric and threats towards those you disagree with from my opponent is disturbing,” Pohl wrote on Twitter on Friday. “I’m ready to listen to everyone in our community and work for real solutions to the challenges we face.”
The Chase camp told Fox News the digital media company they hired edited their "authorized and approved" ad with one they "would never have approved."
The campaign changed the ad back to what the Chase campaign said was the original, approved language: “I’m not afraid to shoot down attacks from any anti-gun groups, because gun rights are women’s rights."
Chase's campaign said the company they worked with has admitted fault in the matter.
"No one in my organization would ever approve the ad they released," Chase told Fox News. "It’s complete incompetence on their part which their company representative admits."
“Mistake or not, it’s still violent rhetoric that has to be addressed,” Pohl said. “While Senator Chase might not agree with me and other activists who want to prevent gun violence in our communities, she at the very least needs to listen to our concerns and not take out campaign ads threatening to shoot us."
Chase is an unapologetic gun rights advocate who gained notoriety earlier this year for openly carrying a .38-caliber revolver onto the Senate floor in Richmond, saying she was concerned about possible violence from protesters at the Statehouse.
"Unfortunately in the General Assembly we see the good, we see the bad, we see all types of things,” she told the Times-Dispatch. “It’s just for personal safety, quite honestly.”
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She described openly carrying guns as empowering women and even likened it to her own Equal Rights Amendment.
Chase is running for a second term.