NRA Going After Senator Lugar

(Indianapolis, Ind.) - Senator Dick Lugar is being targeted in attack ads from the National Rifle Association. 

NRA chief lobbyist Chris Cox said Lugar has been given an F rating by the group, the only Republican lawmaker in the state to score so low. 

“He got that F rating the old-fashioned way. He earned it by voting for bans on millions of semi-automatic firearms, he opposes right to carry,” Cox said.

The NRA is spending over $100,000 campaigning in Indiana against the incumbent Republican lawmaker, criticizing his voting record as very weak for gun owners.  

Cox said he could not remember the last time the gun rights group got so involved opposing a Republican candidate. 

It did not take Lugar’s campaign long to respond to the NRA’s rating Monday.

“A lot of folks are shooting off their mouths in the heat of this spirited primary race - especially those who don't really know Indiana, our state's people or our wildlife. In fact, in their rush to buy Indiana's U.S. Senate seat, they seem to miss the point that Senator Lugar's record on firearms is fair and on-target with most Hoosiers,” said Friends of Dick Lugar political director David Willkie in an e-mail message.

Willkie said Lugar strongly supports the 2nd Amendment right for law-abiding Americans to purchase, carry and hunt with guns.

A Howey/DePauw Indiana Battleground Poll released Thursday showed Lugar leading primary election challenger Richard Mourdock, who has backing from the Tea Party, 42-35 percent.

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Poll: Lugar, Mourdock Close