NRA endorses Blackburn, Bredesen touts A rating as governor

Republican Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn speaks at a business forum in Nashville on Aug. 15, 2018 (Erik Schelzig, Tennessee Journal)

The National Rifle Association has endorsed Republican Marsha Blackburn in the U.S. Senate race and is lashing out at Democrat Phil Bredesen for pointing out his A rating from the gun rights group when he was a candidate for governor in 2006 and 2002.

“Tennesseans know they can count on me to be consistent in my support for their rights and freedoms,” Blackburn said in a release.

Bredesen promptly released a new TV ad in which his discusses being a lifelong hunter and gun owner.

The NRA called on Bredesen to retract the ad, though it’s unclear what exactly is untruthful about it (the group says Bredesen has a D in its current ranking, but Bredesen speaks only about his time as governor when he had the A). The NRA’s Chris Cox said: “Phil Bredesen opposes the constitutional freedoms of law-abiding gun owners and would be a rubber stamp for Chuck Schumer’s gun control agenda in Washington, D.C. He can’t be trusted to defend our Second Amendment rights.”