Gabrielle Giffords
Gabrielle Giffords is a former U.S. Representative from Arizona's Eighth Congressional District, serving from 2007 until her resignation in 2012. A member of the Democratic Party, she was known for her centrist views, advocating for issues such as health-care reform, renewable energy, and small business support. Giffords gained national attention following a tragic incident on January 8, 2011, when she was shot in the head during a public event in Tucson, an attack that also claimed the lives of six others and injured several more. Following her recovery, Giffords became a prominent advocate for gun control, co-founding the political action committee Americans for Responsible Solutions, which later became known as Giffords.
Born on June 8, 1970, Giffords has a background in sociology and regional planning and was Arizona's first Jewish member of Congress. She married astronaut Mark Kelly in 2007, and together they have continued to address issues surrounding gun violence. Giffords' advocacy work includes promoting legislation for expanded background checks and participating in public discussions on gun safety. Her contributions and resilience have been recognized through various honors, including receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022. Giffords' story reflects a powerful narrative of survival, activism, and commitment to public service.
Gabrielle Giffords
Congressperson
- Born: June 8, 1970
- Place of Birth: Tuscon, Arizona
Former United States representative Gabrielle Giffords became the representative for Arizona's Eighth Congressional District in 2007, winning reelection in the largely Republican district in the contentious national election of 2010. Giffords, a Democrat, served as a self-proclaimed centrist, voting in favor of health-care reform, immigration reform, and embryonic stem-cell research. She was a strong proponent of renewable energy investment, considered herself a fiscal conservative, and advocated for small businesses. On January 8, 2011, Giffords was shot in the head at point-blank range at an Arizona grocery store while meeting with her constituents. She survived but resigned from Congress in 2012 and became a noted gun control activist.
Background
Gabrielle Dee Giffords was born on June 8, 1970, in Tucson, Arizona. She self-identifies as a Reform Jew and was Arizona's first Jewish member of Congress. She attended University High School in Tucson, then went on to earn a bachelor's degree in sociology and Latin American history from Scripps College in Claremont, California, in 1993. She earned a master's degree in regional planning from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, in 1996. She also studied in Chihuahua, Mexico, on a Fulbright scholarship.
Small Business to Government
In 1996, Giffords began her career at Price Waterhouse in New York City, working as an associate for regional economic development. Later that year, her father became ill and she returned to Tucson to help with the family business, El Campo Tire Warehouse, where she was named president and chief executive officer. The company was sold to Goodyear Tire in 2000.
Giffords was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2001 and moved to the state senate in 2003, becoming the youngest woman in Arizona history to serve in the state senate. She resigned from that position in 2005, seeking the eighth congressional seat being vacated by Republican representative James T. Kolbe. Giffords campaigned on issues such as job growth in the state, environmental issues (particularly related to solar energy), health care, education, and state infrastructure. In a largely Republican district, Giffords won 54 percent of the vote. She was equally successful in her 2008 bid for reelection.
2010 Election
In 2010, Giffords faced a more grueling race against Republican and Iraq War veteran Jesse Kelly, who was favored by members of the Tea Party movement. In 2009 and 2010, Arizona had been thrust in the national spotlight when its governor, Jan Brewer, signed several controversial laws regarding concealed weapons, weapons licensure, and immigration law. The state had become a lightning rod in the debates surrounding Second Amendment and immigration issues.
During the 2010 campaign, Jesse Kelly's supporters were invited to join him in shooting a fully automatic M16 rifle; former governor of Alaska and Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin posted a map of the United States with targeted seats for Tea Party candidates, including Giffords's district, denoted with crosshairs. After the congressional heath-care vote in March 2010, Giffords's office in Tucson was damaged by a pellet gun. Giffords discussed the consequences of heated political rhetoric in interviews following the attack on her office. On November 5, 2010, three days after the election, Giffords was declared the winner of the House race by just over four thousand votes.
Giffords was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a congressional caucus of moderate and conservative Democrats. Among her responsibilities in the House of Representatives, she served on the House Armed Services Committee and the subcommittees on Air and Land Forces and Military Readiness; the House Science and Technology Committee and the subcommittees on Energy and Environment House and Space and Aeronautics; and the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Western Hemisphere subcommittee.
Attack in Tucson
On January 8, 2011, Giffords was holding a "Congress on Your Corner" meet-and-greet with her constituents at a Tucson Safeway grocery store. A gunman opened fire on Giffords at point-blank range, shooting nineteen others in the process. Giffords survived a shot to the head. Six other people were killed, including John Roll, chief judge for the US District Court for Arizona; a nine-year-old girl; and Giffords's staffer Gabe Zimmerman. Fourteen people, along with Giffords, were injured.
The incident resulted in a reconsideration of security measures by elected officials across the country and a national discussion regarding the potential consequences of heated political rhetoric.
Giffords announced in January 2012 that she would be resigning from Congress in order to fully focus on recovering. She submitted her official resignation the day after President Barack Obama delivered the first State of the Union address of his second term.
In January 2013, Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, created Americans for Responsible Solutions, a political action committee (PAC) dedicated to preventing gun violence and supporting gun-control legislation. That month, Giffords was a surprise witness at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence, giving a brief statement to open the proceedings. Additionally, she and Kelly published Enough: Our Fight to Keep America Safe from Gun Violence (2014) to further argue their case for owning guns responsibly.
In 2016, the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, an organization that serves as a source of legal expertise related to firearms legislation, officially merged with Americans for Responsible Solutions. The following year the group changed its name to Giffords, after its cofounder. As part of her advocacy, Giffords helped House Democrats introduce a bill that would expand background check requirements in January 2019. The year 2022 saw both the release of the documentary Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down, covering her life after the 2011 shooting in addition to gun violence in the United States in general, as well as her reception of a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden. In 2023, Giffords served as the Rose Parade grand marshal for the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California. In 2024, Giffords shared her experiences with gun violence at the Democratic National Convention.
Personal Life
Giffords married Mark Kelly, an astronaut and US Navy captain, in November 2007. In May 2011, just four months after her shooting, Giffords attended the launch of Kelly's final space-shuttle mission. Shortly after his return, Kelly announced his retirement from NASA in order to aid his wife in her recovery. In 2020 Kelly won election as a US senator from Arizona.
In February 2012, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced that the US Navy's fifth Independence-class littoral combat ship would be named the USS Gabrielle Giffords. After construction was completed, a ceremony was held in 2015 to christen the ship that included a speech by the ship's sponsor, Jill Biden. About two years later, following a commissioning ceremony at a Galveston, Texas, port, the USS Gabrielle Giffords was put into active service.
Bibliography
Branigin, William. "Loughner Family Expresses Sorrow for 'Heinous' Attack; Doctors Say Giffords Is Making Progress." Washington Post. Washington Post, 11 Jan. 2011. Web. 16 Jan. 2015.
"Gabby's Story." Giffords, 2021, giffords.org/about/gabbys-story/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
"Gabrielle Giffords Fast Facts." CNN, 9 July 2022, www.cnn.com/2013/05/15/us/gabrielle-giffords-fast-facts/index.html. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
O'Keefe, Ed, and David A. Fahrenthold. "Gabrielle Giffords Speaks at Senate Hearing on Gun Violence: 'You Must Act. Be Bold.'" Washington Post. Washington Post, 30 Jan. 2013. Web. 16 Jan. 2015.
Shauk, Zain. "500,000 Including Giffords Gather to See Launch of Endeavour." Houston Chronicle. Hearst Newspapers, 16 May 2011. Web. 16 Jan. 2015.
Sonmez, Felicia. "Gabrielle Giffords Formally Resigns from the House in Emotional Farewell." 2chambers. Washington Post, 25 Jan. 2012. Web. 16 Jan. 2015.
Wise, Alana. "Gabby Giffords Recounts Her Own Shooting in DNC Remarks." NPR, 22 Aug. 2024, www.npr.org/2024/08/22/g-s1-19204/gabby-giffords-dnc-speech-mark-kelly. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.