Gabrielle Dee Giffords is an American politician and gun control advocate. She served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Arizona’s 8th congressional district from January 2007 until January 2012, when she resigned due to a severe brain injury. She was shot in the head in an assassination attempt and mass shooting just outside of Tucson during an event with constituents. She has since recovered much of her ability to walk, speak, read, and write.
About Gabby Giffords in brief
Gabrielle Dee Giffords is an American politician and gun control advocate. She served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Arizona’s 8th congressional district from January 2007 until January 2012, when she resigned due to a severe brain injury. She was shot in the head in an assassination attempt and mass shooting just outside of Tucson during an event with constituents. She has since recovered much of her ability to walk, speak, read, and write. In January 2013, she and her husband launched Americans for Responsible Solutions, a non-profit organization and Super-PAC which later joined with the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence to become Gifford. She is married to former Space Shuttle Commander Mark Kelly, the junior Senator from Arizona. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Latin American History from Scripps College in California in 1993; and spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar in Chihuahua, Mexico. Her paternal grandfather, Akiba Hornstein, was a Jewish emigrant from Lithuania who changed his name to GiffORD to avoid anti-Semitism in the United United States. Through her father, she is a second cousin of actress Gwyneth Paltrow and director Jake Paltrows. She graduated from Tucson’s University High School and is a former Girl Scout. She worked as an associate for regional economic development at Price Waterhouse in New York City. In 1996, she became president and CEO of El Campo Tire Warehouses, a local chain of auto service centers founded by her grandfather.
The business was sold to Goodyear Tire in 2000. She switched her party affiliation from Republican to Democratic in 2000 and was elected to the Arizona House of Representative from 2001 to 2003. In 2004, she took office in January 2003 and was re-elected in 2004. She resigned from the Arizona Senate on December 1, 2005, in preparation for her congressional campaign. In early 2005, she noted that Arizona was not alone in facing such challenges. She highlighted the lack of high-paying jobs, rapid migration, and unresolved problems related to education, health care, and transportation. She also pushed for bills related to mental health and was named the 2004 Legislator of Arizona of the Year by the Sierra Club of Arizona. In 2011, she attended President Obama’s State of the Union address on January 24, and appeared on the floor of the House on January 25, 2012, where she formally submitted her resignation to a standing ovation and accolades from her colleagues and the leadership of the house. She became an ardent advocate for gun control during her time in Congress, and has since become a spokesperson for the National Rifle Association (NRA) She is the third woman in Arizona’s history to be elected to U.S. Congress. She was raised in a mixed religious environment, as her mother was a Christian Scientist and her father was Jewish. Since 2001, she has practiced Judaism exclusively and belongs to Congregation Chaverim, a Reform synagogue.
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