Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., is urging Congress to act quickly on gun control measures in a TV ad released Monday.
In the first ad from the super PAC Americans for Responsible Solutions that she co-founded with her husband, Mark Kelly, Giffords pleads for Congress to find “solutions we can agree on.”
The congresswoman resigned last year after she was shot in the head in January 2011. Giffords, who is herself a gun owner, now pushes for stronger gun control measures. The elementary school shootings in Newtown, Conn. served as the impetus for the creation of her super PAC and led to her recent testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month at a Senate gun control hearing, where she told Congress, “We must do something. It will be hard but the time is now.”
Giffords has a similar message in her new ad, where somber images of memorials for the mass shootings in Tucson, Ariz., a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., and the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. flash slowly in accordance with Giffords’ words.
“We have a problem, where we shop, where we pray, where our children go to school.”
A graphic states “Nine in 10 Americans back universal background checks,” which would disallow criminals and the mentally ill from purchasing weapons.
The ad then shows Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly. “Take it from me,” says Giffords. “Congress must act. Let’s get this done.”
Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a personal six-figure contribution to Americans for Responsible Solutions, the PAC run by former Rep Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly, a source close to the mayor tells NBC News. Bloomberg’s own group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, is also placing pressure on Congress to take steps to reduce gun violence.
Giffords’ ad will run in Washington and the districts of Speaker John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Americans for Responsible Solutions says the ad will also air after President Obama’s State of the Union address on Fox, msnbc, and CNN.
President Obama is urging lawmakers to enforce bans on the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazine clips in addition to mandatory background checks for all purchases of firearms. But the legislation faces opposition from the top gun lobby and from lawmkakers in a divided Congress.The president is expected to implore Congress for stricter gun control measures as part of his speech to Congress on Tuesday.
Giffords will attend the president’s State of the Union address as the guest of her home state former colleagues—Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Ron Barber, D-Ariz.
Clare Kim