Gabrielle Dee Giffords (born June 8, 1970) is an American politician from Arizona and a gun control advocate. As a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, she represented Arizona's 8th congressional district from January 3, 2007, until her resignation on January 25, 2012, after surviving an assassination attempt that left her with a severe brain injury. She is the third woman in Arizona's history to be elected to the U.S. Congress. Considered a "Blue Dog" Democrat, her focus on health care reform and illegal immigration were sources of attention for those opposed to her candidacy and made her a recipient of criticism from various liberal groups.
Giffords is a native of Tucson, Arizona, and a graduate of Scripps College and Cornell University. Prior to her election to the United States Congress, Giffords served in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2001 until 2003 and the Arizona State Senate from 2003 until 2005, when she resigned to run for the house seat held by then-Congressman Jim Kolbe. She also worked as an associate for regional economic development for Price Waterhouse in New York City, and as CEO of El Campo Tire Warehouses, a local automotive chain owned by her grandfather. She is married to former astronaut and Space Shuttle Commander Mark E. Kelly.
On January 8, 2011, just a week into her third term, Giffords was a victim of an assassination attempt near Tucson at the hands of gunman Jared Lee Loughner, at a Safeway supermarket where she was meeting publicly with constituents. Loughner shot Giffords in the head with a 33-round-magazine Glock pistol; he shot twenty-four others, killing six and wounding eighteen, among them federal judge John Roll and a 9-year-old child, Christina-Taylor Green, before Loughner was disarmed, arrested, and charged with murder and attempted murder. Giffords was later brought to a rehabilitation facility in Houston, Texas, where she recovered some of her ability to walk, speak, read, and write.
On August 1, 2011, Giffords returned to the House floor to vote and was greeted with a standing ovation. On January 22, 2012, Giffords announced her resignation from her congressional seat in order to concentrate on recovering from her wounds, but promised to return to public service in the future. 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.
