I find particularly inspiring people I know who stand up to fear, bigotry, hatefulness, and ignorance with civility, facts, logic, and steadfast determination to change the world for the better. My old friend Gabby Giffords has just returned from an 8,000 mile tour of seven states with strong gun traditions, where she and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, are encouraging political leaders to defy the National Rifle Association and support expanded background checks on firearm purchases, in order to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, terrorists, and the mentally ill. (Current gun laws allow private sellers to sell guns without any background check.) I met Gabby a dozen years ago, before she entered politics, and have always been impressed with her courage and grit. After she voted in favor of the Affordable Care Act, and a rock was thrown through the door of her district office, I urged her to be especially careful. “Don’t worry about me!” she insisted. In 2010, Sarah Palin’s political action committee targeted Gabby for defeat – visually targeted by superimposing a photograph of Gabby on the cross-hairs of a rifle. Gabby won reelection, but a week into her third term representing the 8th district of Arizona, on January 8, 2011, when she was meeting publicly with constituents at a supermarket, a gunman shot her through the head at close range. Six others were killed in the shooting, among them federal judge John Roll. The gunman was later found to be mentally ill. Gabby survived, but she has limited ability to talk or use the left side of her body. It has not stopped her.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 17:29:45 +0000
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