Giffords promotes “common sense” gun laws

DES MOINES - Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords made a stop in Iowa Tuesday to promote a conversation on ways to enact 'common-sense” laws that protect citizens - especially women and families - from gun violence.

Giffords - herself a victim of gun violence and co-founder of Americans for Responsible Solutions - made the seventh stop on a nine-state 'Protect All Women” tour that organizers say is aimed at building an organization committed to finding sensible ways to reduce gun violence and enacting responsible firearms policies that protect the Second Amendment.

'Dangerous people with guns are a threat to women,” Giffords told about two dozen women who gathered for a round-table discussion at the Des Moines Public Library. 'Women can lead the way. We stand for common sense, we stand for responsibility. We can change our laws. We can win elections. Please join your voice with mine.”

In January 2011, Giffords was a victim of a shooting at a supermarket near Tucson where she was meeting publicly with constituents. A total of 13 people were injured and six others were killed in the shooting.

Giffords was critically injured by a gunshot wound to the head, but underwent rehabilitation and was able to recover some of her ability to walk, speak, read and write. She formally resigned from the U.S. House in January 2012.

Hayley Zachary, executive director of Americans for Responsible Solutions, said Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, are gun owners who support the Second Amendment but also promote responsible ways to keep guns away from dangerous people. Proposals they have backed include stopping gun trafficking, limiting the sale of high-capacity magazines and limiting the sale of assault weapons.

Zachary said the goal of conversations like the one Tuesday with public health, domestic violence, social work, higher education, and law enforcement experts is to 'bring some common sense to a conversation that has been too partisan and too divisive for too long.” She said the issue is a community conversation, not something that affects people in isolation, and is part of a large cultural change.

Rep. Marti Anderson, D-Des Moines, who led the round-table discussion, said Iowa loses about 15 women annually to gun violence - a figure she noted is 'significant” when you consider the state averages about 60 homicides each year.

Anderson said she is not against guns but she is against using guns to commit violence and she noted that every right protected under the U.S. and state constitutions has a limitation, such as free speech rights do not allow individuals to slander or libel other people.

'Every right we have has a point where it slides into hurting someone else,” she said.

Connie Ryan Terrell of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa encouraged women to get more actively involved in discussions at the Statehouse where legislators have considered changes related to permit to carry, the use of gun silencers and lowering the age for children to receive gun training.

Roundtable participants said Iowa has some of the better gun laws in the country so sometimes people get complacent on those issues when there is a very aggressive gun lobby that is pushing for changes.

'It is important to show up,” said Leah Kinnaird, an Iowa State University official who is the domestic violence liaison to the state Department of Human Services.

Terrell said she has 'grave concerns” about what gun-related issues might come up for debate should the make-up of the split-control Legislature change as a result of the Nov. 4 election that will reshape the 86th Iowa General Assembly.