New Hampshire GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte is running a new ad suggesting she voted to strengthen background checks, but that's just plain bogus. Now former Rep. Gabby Giffords' gun safety group is slamming Ayotte for misleading voters, reports Jennifer Bendery.

Giffords’ group, Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC, started the tussle with Ayotte last week by releasing an ad highlighting the GOP senator’s April 2013 vote against a proposal that would have closed the so-called “gun show loophole” — a gap in federal law that allows people to buy guns online or at gun shows without a criminal background check. That includes felons, domestic abusers and dangerously mentally ill people in some states. “Sen. Kelly Ayotte voted against more background checks,” says the ad’s narrator. “She stands with the Washington gun lobby. They fund her campaigns.”

Ayotte, who’s in a tight re-election race with Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, released her own ad in response, claiming otherwise.

What is her ad talking about? In tiny print, it cites a vote she made on another bill, known as the Protecting Communities and Preserving the Second Amendment Act of 2013. That legislation, which was backed by the National Rifle Association, did nothing to expand background checks . Instead, it called for better enforcement of the current system, along with some provisions targeting gun traffickers and straw purchasers.

Bottom line, Ayotte voted against the bipartisan Manchin-Toomey bill that attempted to expand background checks in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy. You can see the Gifford group's response below.

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