Gabrielle Giffords represented Arizona in the House of Representatives from 2007 until her resignation on January 25, 2012. Giffords was a victim in a shooting in Tucson Arizona on January 8, 2011. Now Giffords is fighting for changes to the nation’s gun control laws. Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut, started a gun control advisory group a few months ago. Now former congresswoman Giffords’s gun control advocacy group has announced that there will be a new spin off in her organization. They will be called the Veterans Responsible Solutions. These ranking military officials say they are not completely anti-gun. “Obviously, I’m a strong proponent of arms in the correct manner,” said former Air Force Major Mike Almy. The group says it will fight for common sense changes. These include limiting high-capacity magazines and expanded background checks. Some of the veterans will be lobbying congress, others will write op-eds. For some of the military officials just lending their name will help the cause. So far gun control laws have not gained traction in Washington. In April, a bill requiring universal background checks failed to gain the necessary support to move to a vote in the Senate. Many veterans also supported a bill for more affordable mental health coverage. These teams of veterans have become another of the many groups concerned about the connections between mental health and gun violence.
