WASHINGTON - Niles-area Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan has recently raised his political profile by trying to replace Nancy Pelosi as House Democratic Leader and making campaign appearances around the country for other candidates.

Now, the potential presidential candidate is aiming to impress the Democratic party faithful by dissing one of their favorite targets, the National Rifle Association, in the wake of the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Ryan, who once had an "A" rating from the gun owners' group, last week announced that he'd donate the roughly $20,000 its political action committee gave him over the years to gun safety organizations.

"With technology on the market that can cheaply and easily convert a semi-automatic weapon into a fully-automatic machine gun, Congress should require much stricter background checks on semi-automatic rifles and ban the bump stocks that helped make Las Vegas to be so deadly," said a statement Ryan released after the shooting.

Ryan enjoys hunting and shooting and "has no interest in taking guns from law abiding citizens," said his spokesman Michael Zetts. But he soured on the NRA when it opposed universal background checks after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, Zetts said. The group gave him its last political donation that year, campaign finance records show.

"He came to see the NRA as less of an advocate for gun owners and more of an advocate for the gun industry, refusing even the most basic, common sense gun safety reforms," said Zetts. "In light of this week's tragedy in Las Vegas, Rep. Ryan donated all the NRA donations he received over the course of his career to gun safety organizations. He split the donation evenly between Sandy Hook Promise, Americans for Responsible Solutions and Everytown for Gun Safety."

We are grateful to @TimRyan who has decided to donate contributions from the NRA to SHP & other GVP groups to help prevent gun violence — Sandy Hook Promise (@sandyhook) October 6, 2017

Spokesmen for the NRA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Ryan's gesture. Political contribution records compiled by Political MoneyLine indicate the organization's donations have always skewed toward Republicans but recently grew more disproportional. So far, during the 2018 election cycle, 95 percent of its donations have been to Republicans, the political tracking organization says.

The gun-safety organizations thanked Ryan for his largesse on social media.

"Courage comes in many forms," tweeted former Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords, who became a gun safety activist after she was seriously wounded by a gunman who showed up at a constituent meeting. "Tim Ryan just gave all his NRA donations from his 14-year career to fuel our fight to prevent gun violence. Today he is a proud supporter of universal background checks and other critical bills that will make our country safer from gun violence."