But he wasn’t counting on Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut calling him and his scuzzy super PAC out on the ad. In a statement, Senator Murphy wrote:

“If Ted Cruz wants to brandish his pro-gun credentials to Republican primary voters, that’s his right. But it’s sick that he thinks he’ll win votes by specifically pointing out that in the wake of 20 dead first-graders, he was the face of the fight to ensure no action was taken to stop more deranged killers from walking into elementary schools with military-style assault weapons loaded with 30-round clips of ammunition.”

And Murphy was far from finished, adding:

“The new Ted Cruz ad makes me want to throw up, and I’m pretty sure that’s a feeling shared by many who lived through the horror of Sandy Hook. Showing off how callous he was in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting may win him some right-wing votes that get swept up from Donald Trump or Ben Carson, but it disqualifies him in a general election. Middle-of-the-road, common sense voters support measures like expanded background checks. But more importantly, they won’t be impressed by a campaign whose opening pitch to voters is portraying the candidate as the one senator who took on the parents of Sandy Hook in the wake of the most horrific mass shooting in our lifetime.”