A new National Rifle Association (NRA) ad targeting US President Barack Obama and his children has been slammed by former PM Kevin Rudd (and just about everyone else who's seen it, for that matter).
The ad, which Rudd called "one of the most offensive ads of all time" on Twitter, asks why President Obama's children have secret service guards when Obama does not support the NRA's suggestion to post armed guards in schools.
"Are the president's kids more important than yours?" asks the ad, which refers to Obama as an "elitist hypocrite".
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Of course, there's a big difference between posting armed guards in all schools and posting armed guards to monitor Obama's children — for one thing, their dad just stood up to an extremist organisation full of gun nuts.
A spokesman for Obama, who today announced his comprehensive gun control package, called the NRA ad "repugnant and cowardly".
Rudd, now a Labor backbencher, tweeted: "The US National Rifle Association TV ad on President Obama's kids is one of the most offensive ads of all time. For the record, I fully support the Australian system of registered gun owners and & gun clubs. But the US NRA is out of control. KRudd."
The ad is another public relations gaffe for the NRA, following the release of their target shooting iOS app for gamers "ages 4+" on the one month anniversary of the Newtown massacre. The group's chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, also held a bizarrely out of touch press conference last month that saw support for the group fall from 48 per cent to 41 per cent.
Naturally, the NRA has a different spin on their latest attack ad.
"The main aim of the ad is to make sure that we all act to keep our children safe. It's not aimed at anyone's child in particular," a statement read in defence of the ad, which specifically mentioned Obama's children in particular.
"Anyone who claims otherwise is intentionally trying to change the topic or missing the point completely."
