Transcript: Gabrielle Giffords' statement at Senate gun hearing

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' full statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence, Wednesday, January 30, 2013:

"Thank you for inviting me here today. This is an important conversation for our children, for our communities, for Democrats, and Republicans.

"Speaking is difficult but I need to say something important.

Violence is a big problem. Too many children are dying - too many children. We must do something.

"It will be hard. But the time is now. You must act. Be bold. Be Courageous. Americans are counting on you. Thank you."

• Giffords at gun hearing: "Too many children are dying"

[Mac_Boomer]

Gabby's statement was very moving and brought tears to my eyes, thinking of all she has been through. What a struggle. But I don't see any simple solution to this problem as it is rooted in the violence and immorality of our modern society and those things aren't going to change with background checks. We as a people have lost respect for life, especially among young inner city blacks. How are background checks and assault rifle bans going to fix that?

[mageeski]

I am not military trained or anthing, but I could have done the same damage as that evil man in Connecticut with just two pistols and 4 extra clips, though I shudder to think about doing it. After all, changing clips takes about as long as shooting a round, and the distance to targets was well within handgun range. So all this noise about assault rifles is just political smoke.

Here's my big fear, ban military-looking weapons and people will think they've really accomplished something, so everyone just kick back and relax - until it happens again.

We don't understand the problem or we would have solved it, so the first step is...to act on the first idea we come up with - NO! - we need an intensive unbiased study of the problem. next we come up with a well thought out plan to fix it, and then we all start working like a team, and get ready for a long job.

Anyone who tells you there is a quick fix for this kind of social behavior, be they conservative or liberal, is nothing but a liar with an unspoken agenda.

Just to clarify, I'm not a Republican or a Democrat, I'm an American.

[mageeski]

I am not military trained or anthing, but I could have done the same damage with two pistols and 4 extra clips. After all, changing clips takes about as long as shooting a round, and the distance to targets was well within handgun range.

Here's my big fear, ban military-looking weapons and think you've really accomplished something, kick back and relax - until it happens again. We don't understand the problem or we would have solved it, so the first step is - to act on the first idea we come up with - NO! - we need an intensive unbiased study of the problem. next we come up with a well thought out plan to fix it, and then start working like a team.

Anyone who tells you there is a quick fix for this social behavior, be they conservative or liberal, is nothing but a liar with an unspoken agenda.

Just to clarify, I'm not a Republican or a Democrat, I'm an American.

[mageeski]

I am not military trained or anthing, but I could have done the same damage with two pistols and 4 extra clips. After all, changing clips takes about as long as shooting a round, and the distance to targets was well within handgun range.

Here's my big fear, ban military-looking weapons and think you've really accomplished something, kick back and relax - until it happens again. We don't understand the problem or we would have solved it, so the first step is - to acton the first idea we come up with - NO! - we need an intensive unbiased study of the problem. next we come up with a well thought out plan to fix it and start working.

Anyone who tells you there is a quick fix for this social behavior, be they conservative or liberal, is nothing but a liar with an unspoken agenda.

Just to clarify, I'm not a Republican or a Democrat, I'm an American.

[Saffafrass]

Gabbie is AMAZING and right on! We need more Americans like her that stand across both party lines. Bless her!

[SCarrier715]

This testimony by Gabby Gifford was so moving!!
She has come far and done well since her catastrophic gunshot injury. She is a most moving and eloquent voice for all in this country who have been on the receiving end of bullets.

We owe it to her, to all our children, to everyone to stop gun violence in this country as much as it is humanly possible to do so.

This will not be accomplished by creating a shoot-em-up mentality of arming teachers, or posting armed guards everywhere. It will be accomplished by sensible regulation. As much as you don't allow a person to own and drive a car without instruction and regulations, neither should one be permitted to own and use a gun without instruction and regulations. In the same way that training to drive a larger commercial vehicle requires a different class of licensing than the license requried to drive a simple car, there should be differential licensing between owning a small handgun, shotgun or hunting rifle and the type of licensing required to own and use assault rifles or other multi-shot automatic weapons. This only makes sense.