Widow of Portsmouth Shooting Victim to Ayotte: 'Disappointed'

The widow of a man killed in a drive-by shooting in Portsmouth in 1994 invited U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) to dinner this week to talk about gun violence, but the senator declined, citing scheduling conflicts, the Huffington Post reports.

Anne Lyczak wrote a letter to Ayotte with the invite for dinner May 1. In the letter, according to the report, Lyczak says she was "disappointed" in Ayotte's vote against the Manchin-Toomey bill that proposed expanded background checks for gun purchases. Lyczak wrote:

"I believe that expanding and strengthening our background check system, which has stopped more than two million attempted purchases by dangerous people since its inception in 1998, will save lives. And this is something that your constituents support -- 89 percent support going beyond the provisions of the Manchin-Toomey amendment to require a background check for every gun purchase."

The Huffington Post has a copy of the letter. Her husband, Richard, was a professor at the University of New Hampshire.

The vote on the background checks bill continued to be a hot topic for Ayotte during stops in New Hampshire this week, including a town hall-style meeting in which the daughter of a Newtown shooting victim confronted the senator.

It's one of Ayotte's most controversial votes since she won election in 2010. She also won cheers while in New Hampshire. Earlier on Friday, five New Hampshire police chiefs issued a statement praising her integrity and her vote on the issue.

The statement posted to Kelly Ayotte's Facebook page reads:

"These attacks are false. We worked with Kelly Ayotte when she was attorney general, and no one has fought harder to prosecute criminals. When it comes to preventing violence, Senator Ayotte has kept her focus where it belongs – improving the background check system and strengthening mental health services."

The joint statement was from: Chief Dick Crate (Enfield), Chief Mike Sielicki (Kensington), retired Chief Russ Lary (Grantham), retired Chief John Tholl (Dalton), and retired Chief Christopher Connelly (Dunbarton).