Giffords Endorses Slate of Leaders Running for the US House of Representatives

September 30, 2022

Washington DC — Today, Giffords PAC, the gun safety organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, announced its endorsement of 11 candidates running for the US House of Representatives on gun safety platforms.

Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords:
“We need more leaders in Congress who understand the importance of keeping our communities safe from gun violence. The candidates we’re endorsing today are veterans, public servants, and community leaders who understand that lives are on the line in this election. Each of them has made gun safety a priority in their campaigns, and in Congress, they will fight against the gun lobby’s reckless attempts to make our country less safe. Americans are looking for advocates who will stand up for stronger gun laws and build a better future for the next generation—and each of these leaders will do just that. I am proud to endorse these candidates and stand beside them in the fight to end gun violence.”

The slate of endorsed candidates includes:

Francis Conole (NY-22): Francis Conole has dedicated his life to public service. As a fourth-generation central New Yorker, an Iraq War veteran, and as a former policy advisor to the United States Secretary of Defense, he deeply understands the importance of keeping our communities safe. While serving our country, Conole trained with assault rifles like the M16 and M4—which helped him realize that weapons designed for military combat have no place in our communities. In Congress, he will always stand up for lifesaving solutions and push back against the corrupt whims of the corporate gun lobby. In particular, he hopes to direct needed resources to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for evidence-based research on how best to reduce gun violence.

Chris Deluzio (PA-17): Chris Deluzio is a Pittsburgh-area native, an Iraq War veteran, and a voting rights attorney. After graduating from the US Naval Academy, Deluzio served as an officer and deployed overseas multiple times. As a lawyer, he has always stood up for justice, and one of his top priorities once elected will be to end gun violence. Throughout his years of service, Deluzio used and carried weapons of war—giving him a deep understanding of the power of firearms and the need to pass commonsense gun safety legislation. He supports the recently enacted Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and he believes we must do more. Deluzio strongly supports legislation to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as efforts to extend background checks to all gun sales and to make sure that dangerous weapons don’t fall into the hands of domestic abusers or those seeking to do harm.

Laura Gillen (NY-04): Like far too many Americans, the issue of gun safety is personal for Laura Gillen. After losing a friend to senseless violence, she has turned her pain into action and will continue to do so in Congress. She understands that responsible gun ownership and sensible gun safety legislation are not mutually exclusive, and supports safe storage legislation that would prevent the accidental or reckless use of firearms. She knows that an overwhelming majority of Americans support universal background checks and will fight to make those policies the law of the land. Gillen will also advocate for extreme risk protection order laws so that dangerous people who seek to do harm to themselves or others don’t have easy access to firearms.

Jonathan Jackson (IL-01): Jonathan Jackson has fought relentlessly for social, economic, and racial justice for his entire life. As a community leader, Jackson has gathered in unity and prayer with victims of gun violence and their families too many times, and he knows that a safer future will only be possible if politicians have the courage to act on this life or death issue. In Congress, he will work to develop interventions, programs, and policies that would both prevent firearm-related injuries and address the recurring trauma faced by victims and families in the wake of deadly incidents. Jackson supports implementing universal background checks on all gun sales and a ban on assault weapons. He’ll always fight to make Illinois’ streets safer.

Summer Lee (PA-12): Born and raised in Pennsylvania’s Mon Valley, State Representative Summer Lee is an organizer and attorney who has dedicated her life to ending the gun violence epidemic. She supports implementing an assault weapons ban, expanding background checks to all gun sales, ending protections for corporate gun manufacturers, and passing bold gun safety legislation to stop the mass shootings that have become all too common in cities across America. Representative Lee has also led the conversation in Pennsylvania around community violence—emphasizing that in communities like hers, widespread violence happens in the streets every day and has been ignored for too long. As a legislator, she has fought for needed investments in schools, after-school programs, and wrap-around services so that people have a choice in shaping their own futures. If elected to Congress this fall, Representative Lee will make history as the first Black woman to ever represent Pennsylvania in Washington DC.

Josh Riley (NY-19): Josh Riley has a long track record of working to end senseless gun violence, stemming from his time as counsel for the US Senate Judiciary Committee. In that role, he helped to lead efforts to respond to the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Riley also helped to craft common-sense legislation to keep communities safe and prevent future mass tragedies. As a member of Congress, he will continue this important work by passing lifesaving legislation that would improve the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), fund needed research into the root causes of gun violence, keep weapons of war and large-capacity magazines off the streets, and ensure that firearms are not put in the hands of people who are a danger to themselves or others.

Pat Ryan (NY-18): In the military, Representative Pat Ryan swore an oath to support and defend the constitution and to protect the American people—and in Congress, he has continued to honor it by keeping his constituents safe from senseless gun violence. As a combat veteran he knows that the weapons of war he used in Iraq have no place in schools or houses of worship, and in Washington DC, he is working diligently to get dangerous firearms off the streets. Representative Ryan is no stranger to supporting and defending commonsense gun safety laws: in 2019, he led a coordinated effort between law enforcement, local government, and educators in Ulster County to implement New York’s extreme risk law. After the Supreme Court’s ruling in NYSRPA v. Bruen invalidated New York’s concealed carry law earlier this year, he also brought the dangerous ramifications of this ruling to the forefront of his campaign and won a nationally watched special election in August. If reelected this fall, Representative Ryan hopes to push back on harmful judicial overreach by working to expand background checks to all gun sales and making sure that our communities fund lifesaving violence intervention programs.

Rudy Salas (CA-22): Assemblymember Rudy Salas is running to flip California’s 22nd Congressional District blue so that Central Valley residents once again have a gun safety champion fighting on their behalf in Washington DC. Throughout his time in public service, Assemblymember Salas has made it clear that while he supports responsible gun ownership, we must do more to keep communities safe from senseless violence. In Congress, Assemblymember Salas will advocate for needed legislation to expand background checks to all gun sales and keep firearms out of the hands of those seeking to do harm to themselves or others. He also understands that gun violence is multifaceted and intends to fight for the expansion of community violence intervention programs and funding for research into the root causes of America’s gun violence epidemic.

Christy Smith (CA-27): Former AssemblywomanChristy Smith is a fierce supporter of commonsense gun safety reforms with a proven track record of success. As a member of the California State Assembly, she sprang into action to support families and mobilize resources after the deadly shooting at Saugus High School, which rocked her community to its core in 2019. In the legislature, she supported lifesaving efforts to reform the process of selling semi-automatic rifles and to strengthen gun violence restraining orders. In Congress, she will continue working to make the country safer by fighting for comprehensive reforms like implementing universal background checks, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and creating federal extreme risk protection order laws that allow families to ask courts to take guns away from those who are a danger to themselves and others.

Eric Sorensen (IL-17): On Valentine’s Day of 2008, Eric Sorensen co-anchored breaking news coverage of a devastating mass shooting at his alma mater – Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. He will never forget the details of that day and the sadness that lingered in his community for the weeks and months to follow. In Congress, he will fight to ensure no other community will ever have to feel that kind of pain again by enacting commonsense gun safety reforms. Sorensen also understands that there is no one solution to ending gun violence, and he will support a many-pronged approach to this issue if elected that will include funding crucial community violence intervention programs and additional research into the root causes of gun violence.

Jill Tokuda (HI-02): State Senator Jill Tokuda has a record of putting families first and always acting in the best interest of her community. During her 12 years in the Hawaii State Senate, Senator Tokuda repeatedly voted in support of measures that strengthened firearm permit laws and prohibited the possession, manufacturing, sale, transfer, and importation of bump stocks and multi-burst trigger activators. She worked to pass a law requiring the immediate surrender of firearms and ammunition if a person has been disqualified from gun possession, as they may pose a danger to themselves or others. Senator Tokuda strongly supports nationwide efforts to mandate criminal background checks on all gun purchases and require licensure to own or purchase a gun—and if elected to Congress this fall, she will not stop fighting until every child in Hawaii can grow up in a world free of gun violence.

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