Posted on 02/25/2016 6:59:46 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo
Former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her husband were in Minnesota Thursday working to boost gun control in the state.
It's the second time the former congresswoman has been here to spread her message since she was shot at a public event in 2011. That attack left six people dead.
Giffords and many local leaders toured different parts of the Twin Cities with a new coalition to stress that gun ownership is not the problem, it's just making sure the guns are in the right hands.
"Stopping gun violence takes courage," Giffords said.
She still shows the effects of the shooting more than four years ago that left her with brain damage.
"I've seen great courage when my life was on the line," Giffords said.
But her message is clear as ever: "We must never stop fighting, fight, fight, fight," Giffords said.
Led by Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, other state leaders are joining the Minnesota Coalition for Common Sense.
"Our country is in the grips of a gun violence crisis," Kelly said.
Kelly said their focus includes closing the alleged loopholes in Minnesota law that let felons, domestic abusers and the dangerously mentally ill buy guns without a criminal background check.
"The vast majority of Americans agree that Congress needs to close these loopholes," Kelly said.
But Bryan Strawser and the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus believe the focus should be on dealing with violent criminals, particularly looking at prosecution and sentencing, and providing additional access to mental health services - not on laws such as Giffords's group supports that primarily impact law-abiding citizens.
"We have hundreds of thousand of permit holders, and, by in large, those gun owners are extremely safe and law-abiding citizens in the community," Strawser said.
Strawser agrees certain people shouldn't have guns, but he says some goals of the coalition go too far.
"We believe that is where the focus should be, not on the kind of laws that this organization has pushed that will really impact law-abiding citizens," Strawser said.
This coalition is now touring the state making sure lawmakers have the resources to strengthen existing laws. Kelly says the consequences for doing nothing will only lead to more violence.
"It's time for our leaders to finally do something about the gun violence that makes our country stand out in the worst of ways," Kelly said.
Giffords has already visited two other states with a similar message.
Did Gifford mention that her assailant was a wacko leftie, like JFK’s assassin and most all assailants of public figures?
Gee, I wonder if she went out to the HUGE Terrorist enclaves around MN. Probably not.
The only folks I know that don’t own firearms all live in the metro.
Exactly! If she was using her injury as a force for good instead of this insidious game of gun grabbing; I’d feel sad for her. As it is; she’s just a pawn and a putz without honor or decency.
Someone should explain the problem is mentally ill people being thrown out onto the streets because the dems want it that way and try to reverse that tragedy.
The problem is not now nor was it ever about guns. It’s about getting the mentally ill the treatment and care they need and to house them if needed. It’s the very least a civil society should do.
too soon?
That’s mean!
(I laughed anyway, so God will punish me)
So is dragging Gabby all over hell’s half acre to further an agenda.
She shouldn’t be used as a prop. The brain damage probably prevents her from fighting against it.
Gabby, go home, stay home, and make that bald idiot a sammich!
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