“I’m not afraid to shoot down gun groups,” it reads. “SIGN my petition to help end the assault on our liberties.”

The backlash was swift, with local and national gun-control groups accusing her of threatening violence against them.

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“Instead of working to prevent gun violence, Republican Senator Amanda Chase is threatening to commit it,” Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) tweeted Friday. “Disgusting, dangerous rhetoric from anyone, even worse from an elected official.”

Chase said her campaign never approved that language, something the digital media firm that placed the ad disputes. She said she spent the weekend talking with officials from the Prosper Group, asking them to issue an apology and claim responsibility for the message.

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She recorded at least one of those conversations. In it, a senior Prosper Group employee concedes that the campaign never signed off on the final version of the ad. Chase warned the firm that she would release the recording if the apology was not issued by noon Monday.

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The firm rebuffed her request, and Chase provided the six-minute recording to The Washington Post.

R. Scott Kline, a senior strategist with the Prosper Group, says in the call that the firm violated “normal protocol” when it failed to provide the campaign with a final version of the ad before posting it on Facebook last week.

“The ad did not go to you,” Kline says in the recording. “That’s just clear as day here. . . . You approved the original ad. . . . We thought you were approving the revised ad, which you obviously did not get. I would absolutely agree with you that the ball was dropped on that. I’m not trying to sugarcoat that. I’m not trying to make ex­cuses for it. That happened.”

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In a statement, the Prosper Group said the campaign had signed off on “shoot down” language for the “website landing page” that accompanies the ad, where supporters can sign a petition. The firm said Kline did not know all the facts when he spoke to Chase.

“The Prosper Group terminated its relationship with Virginia State Senator Amanda Chase (R-11) as of Sunday, September 22nd,” the company said in an email. “Unfortunately, State Senator Chase is misrepresenting the facts and refused to take ownership for language she approved, and by recording our staff without their knowledge, acted in bad faith.”

Chase’s campaign manager, Philip Search, said the termination was mutual. He and Chase said they never saw or approved the “shoot gun groups” wording. They said they saw an earlier version reading: “Protect your guns. I’m not afraid to shoot down any attack from the anti-gun lobby because gun rights are women’s rights.”

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Search said he asked for minor tweaks to that wording, including changing “anti-gun lobby” to ­“anti-gun groups.”

The firm released an email that showed Chase approving something — “Approved! Looks good” — two hours before the ad went up Thursday evening, but it is not clear from the email what she was authorizing. Search said Chase was approving a landing page that did not include the problematic language — not the Facebook ad.

Chase said the episode has damaged her chances for reelection in November, when all 140 seats in the state legislature will be on the ballot. Republicans are defending razor-thin majorities in the Senate (20 to 19) and the House (51 to 48), with one vacancy in each chamber.

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Chase is facing a challenge from political newcomer Amanda Pohl, a Democrat. Her district — suburban-rural territory south of Richmond — favors Republicans, but Democrats see an opening given the surge of Democratic activism triggered by President Trump’s election. A string of controversies have dogged Chase’s campaign, including a well-publicized argument with a police officer over parking at the Capitol.

The ad went online early Thursday evening, while Chase was hosting a fundraiser. She said she did not see it until the next morning. As it happened, former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was kicking off a three-day swing through the state to campaign for gun control.

Giffords, who founded a gun-control group after surviving a 2011 assassination attempt, was stumping for Democrats along with former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe (D).

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