Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., returned to the House floor Tuesday during President Obama’s final State of the Union address to continue her push for stricter gun laws.
After Giffords was shot in the head five years ago during an official event back in her Tucson-based district, gun-control advocates hoped it would spark lawmakers to tighten the nations laws regarding firearms acquisition and possession.
President Obama issued 10 new executive orders to bolster existing gun laws, with Giffords at his side, last week. As part of his push to prod Congress to do what he can’t do without legislative approval, he left a seat in first lady Michelle Obama’s box in the House gallery empty to recognize victims of gun violence.
Giffords and her astronaut husband Mark Kelly have become perennial special guests on the anti-gun side.
Days after her Jan. 8, 2011, shooting, Republicans and Democrats enjoyed a rare bipartisan moment. Her near-death experience inspired them to pair up in bipartisan duos to attend Obama’s 2011 State of the Union.
She could be seen Tuesday chatting with Rep. Elizabeth Esty, whose district includes Newtown, Conn., site of the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School that spurred Congress to coming the closest it has in decades to overhauling the nation’s gun laws.
It’s also the mass shooting most often cited by Obama as being the driving force behind his push, leading him to tear up last week when he announced his gun-related executive orders
A pro-gun safety group named after that incident, Everytown.org, urged gun-violence survivors to photograph empty chairs symbolizing their losses and post them on social media in solidarity with Obama’s push
Former New York Gov. Michael Bloomberg, whom Obama met with before unveiling his executive orders, funds the organization.
