OP ED: Gabrielle Giffords: We can no longer wait for a Congress in the gun lobby’s grip to act

[riversedge]

Gabrielle Giffords: We can no longer wait for a Congress in the gun lobby’s grip to act
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/gabrielle-giffords-we-can-no-longer-wait-for-a-congress-in-the-gun-lobbys-grip-to-act/2016/01/07/8e815af6-b543-11e5-9388-466021d971de_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-e%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

?uuid=dtvp1LPqEeWoQg_rUdHRJA

Former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords arrives at the White House on Tuesday to hear President Obama’s remarks on his executive actions on guns. (Mandel Ngan/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)
By Gabrielle Giffords January 7

The writer, a Democrat from Arizona, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2012 and is a co-founder of Americans for Responsible Solutions.



The new year is a time of optimism and new commitments. For me, it’s also a powerful time for an additional reason: Every Jan. 8, I think about how close I came to losing my life on a bright winter morning five years ago in Tucson, when a would-be assassin opened fire on me and a group of my constituents, injuring 12 others and killing six.

I was shot in the head from three feet away, but somehow I survived.

I made a decision that my new life would be lived as my old life was: in service of our country. One thing that means for me today is using my second chance to do everything I can to make this great country safer from the kind of gun violence that took the lives of those around me and changed many others’, and mine, forever.

Instead of focusing on what I cannot do, I have tried to live without limits. I’ve set myself tougher and tougher goals. I’ve learned and delivered speeches. I jumped out of an airplane. I spent the night on one of our Navy’s aircraft carriers, the USS Carl Vinson. I’ve taken my French horn out of its case for the first time in years. This November, I rode 40 miles in Tucson’s annual charity bike ride, El Tour de Tucson........................

[blondie58]

1. She is such an inspiration!

Love her.