Gabby Giffords to Congress: ‘The Nation’s Counting on You’
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Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) — A little over four years since surviving an assassination attempt, former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords once again returned to Capitol Hill to help reintroduce legislation that aims to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill by expanding background checks to anyone making a commercial purchase of a firearm.
“Stopping gun violence takes courage,” Giffords, a former Democrat from Arizona, said during her brief remarks. “Now is the time to come together. Be responsible. Democrats, Republicans, everyone.”
The bill, formally called the “Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act,” stalled in the last Congress, but Republican co-sponsor Rep. Robert Dold predicted it would pass if House Speaker John Boehner allows a vote.
“Are we going to get 100 percent? No way. But I think there is an opportunity to be able to put it on the floor and if it does go to the floor, I’m confident it would pass the House,” Dold, R-Ill., said.
“We need to get a vote on the bill, and when we do, we’ll get it passed,” Rep. Mike Thompson, chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, agreed. “It’s about using the background check system to make sure that folks who buy guns through a commercial sale have their background check to make sure that we aren’t selling guns to someone who’s dangerously mentally ill, someone who is a domestic abuser, or someone who is a criminal.”
Giffords, who delivered her remarks without the use of a script, urged lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to act.
“We must never stop fighting. Fight fight fight,” she said. “Be bold, be courageous. The nation’s counting on you.”
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