UPDATE: Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' words during a brief opening
statement at a Senate hearing on gun violence were careful, slow and
deliberate.
But they were firm: "Too ma-ny child-den are dy-ing,"
she said Wednesday, breaking up the syllables during her testimony to
open a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun laws.
"It will be hard, but the time is NOW," said Giffords, who has embarked
on an arduous recovery after being critically wounded at Tucson Safeway
while meeting with constituents in early 2011. "You. Must. Act. Be bold.
Be cour-ag-eous. Amer-i-cans are count-ing on you."
Giffords has emerged as one of the leading gun safety advocates
prompted by the December 2012 shootings in Newtown, Conn., that killed
20 elementary school children and 6 adults.
She walked into
Wednesday's hearing, making a surprise appearance at the first
gun-related hearing held in Congress since the Newtown shooting. Her
husband, Mark Kelly, held her hand and carefully guided her to her seat
in front of the Senate panel.
She spoke for just over a minute. Kelly, who was set to testify at length, helped her back out of the room.
"Gabby's
gift for speech is a distant memory," Kelly planned to say later in the
hearing. "She struggles to walk, and she is partially blind. Her right
arm is completely paralyzed."
Giffords and Kelly were to testify ahead of the National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre, as well as three other witnesses.
PREVIOUS STORY:
WASHINGTON (AP) - The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee says closing loopholes in the background check system for gun purchasers won't threaten firearms owners' Second Amendment rights to own a gun and is a matter of common sense.
In a prepared statement for his committee's hearing Wednesday on curbing guns, Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy says that after the killing of elementary school students and staffers in Newtown, Conn., it is time to stop sloganeering and partisan recriminations on the subject.
Leahy says the background check system needs strengthening. By law, anyone buying a gun from a licensed dealer must have a background check, with convicted criminals and people with mental problems barred from purchases. Gun buyers at gun shows and online don't need the check.
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