Shooting survivor Giffords, coming to YSU, urges gun control

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords says the deadly school shooting in Florida should “strike fear into all Americans.”

Today, former U.S. Rep. Giffords and retired NASA astronaut and Navy combat veteran Mark Kelly will travel to Youngstown to speak at the Youngstown State University Skeggs Lecture Series at 7 p.m. at Stambaugh Auditorium.

The Democrat from Arizona was shot in the head and survived an attack in 2011.

She said in a statement Wednesday that her heart goes out to the victims and survivors of the school shooting that killed 17 in Parkland, Fla. She called it the latest attack in an epidemic of gun violence that continues “day after deadly day.”

She also says in a statement that the latest in a series of deadly U.S. shootings should stir fresh resolve in Congress to “find the courage to pass the laws we need to protect our children.”

Giffords was a target of an assassination attempt in Tucson, at a Congress on Your Corner event in January 2011. She suffered a gunshot wound at point-blank range to her head. The gunman went on to kill six people and injure 12 others.

She survived, but the shooting has left her with trouble controlling her arms and legs, speaking and hearing. Giffords subsequently stepped down from Congress.