Attempting to kick-start his sputtering campaign, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Monday crowed about his pro-gun credentials despite a deadly shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado just days earlier.

In an op/ed article in the Iowa Republican, Mr. Bush touted his pro-gun record as governor of Florida, which included making it easier to obtain a permit to carry a concealed firearm and passing the country’s first Stand Your Ground law that gives citizens the right to shoot an attacker.

“As a proud conservative, I believe strongly in the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners,” wrote Mr. Bush.

“During my governorship, I advanced a legislative agenda that helped make Florida one of the most pro-gun and pro-sportsmen states in the nation, but I also know that the Second Amendment is about more than recreation,” he wrote. “It is, first and foremost, about giving citizens the right to protect themselves and their families and to preserve of other rights that are enshrined in the Constitution.”

He also described how Florida under his leadership cracked down on gun crimes, including three-strikes rules for felons and a mandatory minimum 20-year sentence for firing a gun in the commission of a crime.

“We proved in Florida that it is possible to stand strong on principle and in defense of the Second Amendment, while still reducing gun violence,” wrote Mr. Bush.

The article does not mention the shooting on the day after Thanksgiving that killed three people and injured nine others at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Robert Lewis Dear, 57, is accused of the shooting rampage that touched off an hours-long standoff and shootout with police Friday that shattered the holiday weekend and rekindled the political debate over both gun control and abortion.

The timing of Mr. Bush’s pro-gun essay raised eyebrows. It also spurred questions about whether Mr. Bush considered canceling it or if his campaign was on the ball enough to flag a potential a potential problem with the optics.

Asked about the decision to publish the article, campaign officials offered Mr. Bush’s statement in response to the shooting:

“My prayers are with the families of Officer Garrett Swasey and the other two people who have lost their lives in this tragic incident, as well as the nine individuals who were injured. There is no acceptable explanation for this violence, and I will continue to pray for those who have been impacted,” Mr. Bush said in a statement after the shooting.

Ryan Williams, a Republican political strategist who supports Mr. Bush, defended the timing of the article.

“Jeb Bush has a very strong record on Second Amendment issues and one he is proud to talk about on the campaign trail,” he said. “You want to be sensitive to all events but you should never back away from talking about your support for Second Amendment rights.”

The article ran as Mr. Bush began a two-day swing though Iowa. He has struggled to gain traction with his campaign in early-voting Iowa and throughout the country, as voters sour on Republican establishment candidates and recoil from his political pedigree.

The Real Clear Politics average of rent polls in Iowa showed Mr. Bush lagging in fifth place with 4 percent of the vote, behind front-runner Donald Jr. Trump with 26 percent, Ben Carson with 20 percent, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas with 18 percent and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida with 12 percent.

The other candidates finished in low single digits.

Mr. Bush wasn’t the only candidate to voice support for gun rights Monday on the campaign trail. Mr. Cruz mentioned his dedication to the Second Amendment during a town hall-style meeting at a community college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but it was one line in a speech.

Mr. Bush’s article was titled “A clear choice on the Second Amendment,” part of a series of op/eds by the candidate that are running in newspapers in early-voting states. “A clear choice on national security” ran last week in the Concord (N.H.) Monitor.

Mr. Bush also used the article to jab at Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has made strengthening gun-control laws a top issue for her campaign.

“In a recent debate, Hillary Clinton sent a shot across the bow of every gun owner when she boasted that the NRA was one of her enemies,” he said, adding that Mrs. Clinton would appoint Supreme Court judges who would undo Second Amendment rights.

Calling for tough gun laws, Mrs. Clinton pointed to Colorado shooting during a speech Saturday at a Democratic Party dinner in New Hampshire.

“This is truly unbelievable, that after what we’ve seen in Paris and other places, Republicans will not bring up a bill that will prohibit anyone on the no-fly list from buying a gun in America,” she said. “If you are too dangerous to fly in America, you are too dangerous to buy a gun in America.”

She continued: “How many more Americans need to die before we take action?”

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