New York Times: For Giffords, Progress on Gun Safety Is Like Her Recovery: “Inch by Inch”
Today, The New York Timespublished a front-page, in-depth feature story detailing Gabby Giffords’ recovery and how the gun safety organization she founded, Giffords, has played a key role in shaping the gun violence prevention movement and passing gun safety legislation at the state and federal level.
“[I]n an interview at the headquarters of the gun safety group that bears her name, amid a string of mass shootings in California, there was something more that Ms. Giffords wanted to say. Asked what Americans should know about her, she closed her eyes and rocked slowly back and forth, as if to summon words from deep within. She shushed a colleague who tried to speak for her. And then she delivered a speech unlike any she had given as a congresswoman from Arizona, before the 2011 mass shooting that nearly killed her.
“‘I’m getting better,’ she said haltingly, laboring over each word. ‘Slowly, I’m getting better. Long, hard haul, but I’m getting better. Our lives can change so quickly. Mine did when I was shot. I’ve never given up hope. I chose to make a new start, to move ahead, to not look back. I’m relearning so many things — how to walk, how to talk — and I’m fighting to make the country safer. It can be so difficult. Losses hurt; setbacks are hard. But I tell myself: Move ahead.’
“Ms. Giffords, 52, who goes by Gabby, is arguably America’s most famous gun violence survivor. She had come to the group’s headquarters in Washington for an update and a strategy session. The timing of her visit underscored two competing truths: The gun safety movement she helps lead is stronger than ever. But the nation’s gun violence epidemic is worsening.
“In part because of the efforts of Giffords, the group Ms. Giffords and her husband founded 10 years ago, so-called red flag laws aimed at keeping guns away from potentially dangerous people have now been enacted in 19 states and the District of Columbia; states adopted dozens of new gun safety laws in 2022 alone. Breaking nearly 30 years of partisan gridlock, Congress passed a modest package of gun safety measures last year. Democrats, who once feared the gun rights lobby, are now running on gun safety platforms.”
“Ms. Giffords is an optimist, but also a realist. In written answers to questions — an accommodation she sought because conversation is difficult — she conceded that persuading Congress to pass sweeping laws, like banning assault weapons or requiring gun manufacturers to make weapons with safety devices like fingerprint locks, ‘will be tough.’”
“But she likened the effort to her own painstaking recovery — a fight back that will never get her where she once was. ‘Progress,’ she said, ‘happens inch by inch.’”
MEDIA REQUESTS
Our experts can speak to the full spectrum of gun violence prevention issues. Have a question? Email us at media@giffords.org.
Contact