Democratic challenger Jason Crow on Thursday called on U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman to return campaign donations the Aurora Republican has received from the National Rifle Association and urged the incumbent to “act now to pass commonsense gun safety reform” the day after a mass shooting at a Florida high school left 17 dead and 14 wounded – but the Coffman campaign dismissed Crow’s demands as political posturing.

“Mass shootings in Aurora, Las Vegas, and now Parkland, Florida, add to the countless acts of senseless gun violence across the country,” Crow said in a statement. “As a parent, my thoughts and deepest sympathies are with all the students and families that lost loved ones. But thoughts and sympathies are not enough.

“We must act now to pass commonsense gun safety reform and it’s up to Republicans in control of Washington to get to work. If commonsense reform can save one more family from tragic loss, is that not reason enough to act? Until we end the control of the gun lobbying on the members of Congress, we cannot work together to keep our schools, businesses and places of worship safe.”

According to campaign finance records, since his first run in the 6th Congressional District in 2008, Coffman has taken $34,700 from the NRA – more than any other currently serving member of Congress from Colorado – and Crow wants him to give it back.

The NRA has spent an additional $67,550 supporting Coffman’s congressional campaigns, campaign finance site OpenSecrets.org found.

Unsurprisingly, the Coffman campaign rejected Crow’s suggestion.

“Leave it to a 17th Street lawyer that defends predatory lenders to look to score political points over this tragedy,” Tyler Sandberg, Coffman’s campaign manager, told Colorado Politics.

“Shame on Jason Crow. Mike is heartbroken over what happened in Florida and believes this country needs to get laser-focused on mental health reform. There is a reason that Mike has the strong support of law enforcement leaders across the district – he is passionately dedicated to keeping our communities safe while protecting fundamental constitutional rights.”

In a White House address earlier in the day, President Donald Trump also brought up mental health but didn’t mention guns.

“We are committed to working with state and local leaders to help secure our schools and tackle the difficult issue of mental health,” Trump said.

Sandberg didn’t respond to a request for elaboration on what Coffman considered mental health reform.

A year ago, Congress passed legislation – later signed by Trump – to repeal an Obama-era regulation that would have made it more difficult for certain Americans determined to be mentally ill to purchase guns. The rule, which never went into effect, was opposed by the NRA and other gun-rights organizations, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union and some disability-rights groups.

Coffman voted to overturn the rule. A spokeswoman for Crow said the Democrat supports restoring it.

Also Thursday, U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the Virginia Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said in an interview that Congress should take another look at a provision that prohibits the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from studying gun violence as a public-health problem.

“If it relates to mental health, that certainly should be done,” Goodlatte said during an appearance on the C-SPAN Newsmakers program. The lawmaker, who has an “A” lifetime rating from the NRA, added that the ban’s original author, the late U.S. Rep. Jay Dickey, an Arkansas Republican, said he hadn’t intended that the policy block CDC research on preventing gun violence.

Colorado Politics asked Sandberg whether Goodlatte’s approach fell within Coffman’s focus on mental health reform, but he didn’t respond.

Crow supports lifting the ban, his campaign said.

In addition, Crow said he would work to close the so-called gun show loophole for private party gun purchases, keep suspected terrorists from buying firearms, and restrict the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines and devices like “bumpstocks” that allow a gun to be modified to fire like an automatic weapon. He would also vote to reverse the concealed-carry reciprocity law passed by Congress that requires states to honor others states’ permits and ban military-style assault weapons and accessories.

Three other Democrats – clean energy expert and author Levi Tillemann, attorney David Aarestad and activist Erik Stanger – are running against Crow in a primary. Coffman is facing a primary challenge from Highlands Ranch Republican Roger Edwards.