Nine years ago today, Rep. Gabby Giffords was shot in the head at a constituent meet-and-greet held in a supermarket parking lot in Casas Adobes, Arizona. She was gravely injured, ending her congressional career. Six people’s lives were ended. Twelve were injured.
Remembering that day, and memorializing the victims, Giffords tweeted, “What I've learned since that day is that it's not the setback that defines us, but how we respond to it.” She continued, “After I was shot, I struggled with the lives we lost that day. But from great loss, we created profound change. As I worked to regain my strength, we built a strong social movement to prevent future tragedies. As I worked to find my words again, America found its voice.”
And she concludes with a strong message: “Senator McConnell and President Trump may sit silent, but voters will not. America’s voice will be decisive in 2020. If Senate leaders won’t vote on universal background checks, we’ll elect leaders who will.”
It’s been nearly a year since the House of Representatives passed the first significant gun safety legislation in a quarter of a century, legislation that is still languishing in Mitch McConnell’s Senate legislative graveyard. There were more mass shootings in 2019 than there were days in the year, the highest number of shootings in a year since the Gun Violence Archive began tracking them.
Gabby Giffords is right. If McConnell and Trump and their captive Republicans refuse to act, we’ll replace them with leaders who will.
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