Will Brooke Ad Guns Obamacare.JPG

A screenshot from Will Brooke for Congress campaign video, "Let's Do Some Damage."

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - The word "literally" has lost its meaning in recent years, and, in the mouths of people young and old - including Vice President Joe Biden, who is fond of the word - it has come to mean figuratively, which is the opposite of literally.

But when Will Brooke, a Republican candidate in the race to replace retiring District 6 U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus, says he's going to "see how much damage we can do" to Obamacare, he's serious. He literally -- in the correct sense -- intends to damage the law, and he does it with guns. Lots of them.

And a "Will Brooke For Congress" branded wood chipper.

In a new campaign video, "Let's Do Some Damage," Brooke sits on the tailgate of a pickup beside a foot-high stack of printer paper, a wooden box, and a scoped rifle.

"We're down here to have a little fun today, and talk about two serious subjects: The Second Amendment, and let's see how much damage we can do to this copy of Obamacare," Brooke says to the camera, while slapping his hand on the stack of paper - a printed copy of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Brooke places the Obamacare printout in the wooden box - which is effectively a custom-built target holder for a thousand-plus page target - and takes aim. First, with a pistol. Then, with a series of rifles. After firing each, Brooke seems disappointed that his shots did not fully penetrate the stack of paper.

Not content with the damage the bullets did to the law, Brooke takes the printout and heads over to a wood chipper complete with a Brooke campaign sticker on the side.

"It looks like we'll have to resort to more extreme measures to get rid of Obamacare and replace it with a market-based solution," Brooke, the executive vice president of Harbert Management Corp., says as he tosses the stack of paper into the chipper, causing the pages to explode out of the other end.

Story continues below the video

According to Brooke campaign spokesperson Mark McNulty, the video's concept was a product of collaboration between Brooke and his campaign team, and was produced and shot by Bob Kish. All the guns used in the video are Brooke's, McNulty said.

Of course, while Brooke literally destroys a paper copy of the law in the video, he said in a press release Wednesday that he intends to work to replace the law if he is elected to Congress.

"This ad shows that we can have fun with a serious subject, but for those who have already been hurt by the law here in Alabama, it's anything but funny," Brooke said in the release. "I will fight every day to right the wrongs of Obamacare."

Ads featuring guns and gun metaphors have been very popular in Alabama campaign history. Former Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr. was fond of showing of his shotgun collection, and Dale Peterson, a failed candidate for Agriculture Commissioner, just liked to have a gun around in his ads.

Brooke has six opponents in the

Republican primary:

,

,

,

, Robert Shattuck, and Tom Vigneulle. Avery Vise is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.