By Brad Poole
TUCSON, Ariz., March 6 (Reuters) – Former Arizona
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, returning to
the site of the shooting rampage where she was gravely wounded,
on Wednesday urged senators to “be courageous” and support
background checks for all gun buyers.
Standing just a few feet from where a gunman more than two
years ago put a bullet through Giffords’ head and then opened
fire on constituents, Giffords and husband Mark Kelly urged
Arizona Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake, both Republicans,
to support a universal background check system.
“Be bold. Be courageous. Be for background checks,” said
Giffords, who is a Democrat. The shooting left her with speech
difficulties, a pronounced limp and a partially paralyzed right
arm, which she cradled in her left as she spoke. Six people were
killed and 13 others wounded in the attack.
Flanked by other victims and family members of several
people slain in the shooting, Giffords and Kelly urged U.S.
lawmakers and voters to get behind a bill in Congress that
would require background checks for all gun transfers or
purchases.
About 100 people attended the event, including media,
Giffords’ entourage and passers-by. It was Giffords’ first
public appearance at the suburban Safeway grocery store where
college dropout Jared Loughner opened fire at her congressional
outreach meeting on Jan. 8, 2011. She and Kelly, a former
astronaut, visited the scene unannounced a year after the
shooting.
Giffords resigned from Congress a year after the shooting to
focus on her recovery.
In the wake of an assault-rifle attack that left 26 people –
including 20 elementary school children – dead at a Newtown,
Connecticut, school in December, Giffords and Kelly founded a
new group aimed at curbing gun violence and challenging the
political clout of the well-funded gun lobby.
TAKING ON NRA
The group, Americans for Responsible Solutions, urges
actions including a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity
magazines and seeks to raise $20 million for the 2014
congressional elections, matching the National Rifle
Association’s spending in last November’s election.
Emily Nottingham, whose son, Gabe Zimmerman, was killed the
day of Giffords’ shooting, choked up when she talked about the
need for tighter controls. The current system of background
checks lets too many people with mental illness or criminal
pasts slip through, Nottingham said.
“That system is riddled with holes. Bullet holes,” she
said.
Giffords and Kelly are both gun owners and strong supporters
of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which
guarantees Americans’ right to own guns. Kelly said the drive
was focused on public safety, and closing loopholes that allow
unchecked Internet and gun-show purchases would save lives.
More than 1.7 million people have failed gun store
background checks since they have been required, Kelly said, and
he wondered how many then went to gun shows to buy weapons.
“I suspect there were plenty,” Kelly said. “How many violent
crimes, how many senseless deaths could have been prevented?”
Last November, Loughner was sentenced to life in prison. He
received seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years in prison,
without the possibility of parole, under a deal with prosecutors
that spared him the death penalty.
(Editing by Tim Gaynor and Cynthia Osterman)
