Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head six years ago, is calling on her former colleagues to pursue tighter restrictions on gun access in the wake of the shooting at a congressional baseball practice Wednesday.
Giffords, a Democratic member of the House from 2007 to 2012, wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Post Thursday: “Congress did nothing when I was shot. Lawmakers need courage now.”
“We know, as always, that no one law could prevent a shooting like this,” Giffords wrote. “But we also know that we must acknowledge a problem: an unacceptable rate of gun violence in this country. And we must acknowledge that a deadly problem like this brings a responsibility to find solutions.
“And that’s where we, as a nation, will need courage in abundance, as my former colleagues find the strength to recover from their wounds — and the bravery to try to make shootings like this one less likely in the future.”
This call for action is not new to the Arizonan, who is a co-founder of Americans for Responsible Solutions, a nonprofit and Super PAC that supports gun control.
Since she was shot in January 2011 outside a supermarket in Tucson, Ariz., Giffords has pushed for lawmakers to tighten gun laws after mass shootings, including the ones at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and an Aurora, Col., movie theater.
But Republican supporters of gun rights have not changed their views, and legislative efforts by Democrats have failed.
In the immediate aftermath of the Wednesday shooting at Simpson Park in Alexandria, Va., during a practice for Thursday’s congressional baseball game, both Democrats and Republicans did not seem eager to renew a debate on gun access. Members did not want to be seen as politicizing a shooting that critically injured their colleague, Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., who remains in the hospital.
But some Republicans are calling for looser gun laws, arguing that law-abiding gun owners are valuable in countering attacks.
One Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, introduced legislation Thursday to allow anybody who has a concealed carry permit in their home state to use that permit in Washington D.C. “as if it were a driver’s license.”
Giffords is asking for a different approach.
“We will dig deep and work together to make sure that in America, teams can gather to play baseball, children can go to school, friends can meet at a dance club and elected officials can go out in public among their neighbors and constituents, all without fear of gun violence,” she wrote in her op-ed.
