Gabrielle Giffords: Then and now
Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, announced the launch of a website meant to curb gun violence on Tuesday, the second anniversary of a gunman shooting her in the head while she met with constituents. Look back at her miraculous recovery.
Tuesday is the second anniversary of the Tucson, Ariz., shooting that killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Look back at her miraculous recovery.
Tuesday is the second anniversary of the Tucson, Ariz., shooting that killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Look back at her miraculous recovery.
Giffords, a Democrat, was only the third woman in Arizona history to be elected to Congress after first winning the 8th Congressional District in 2006.
Considered a "Blue Dog" Democrat, she won her third House term in 2010 despite the Republican leanings of the district she represents.
In 2007, Giffords married NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, who would rarely stray from her side during her long and arduous recovery.
In this image taken Jan. 8, 2011, Giffords speaks with constituents the same day she was shot in the head during an appearance outside a Safeway store in Tucson.
Giffords and 18 others were shot during the "Congress On Your Corner" event. Six of them died, including a federal judge, a Giffords aide and a 9-year-old girl.
Giffords was shot in the forehead at point blank range by 22-year-old Jared Loughner, who has since been found incompetent to stand trial for the killings. Here, Kelly sits by Giffords' bedside in the hospital.
Giffords spent months in the hospital and rehab. This is among the first photos of her released after the shooting on her Facebook page.
On Aug. 1, 2011, Giffords received a standing ovation from both parties when she returned to Congress to cast her vote on a bill to raise the U.S. borrowing limit.
Giffords hugs her husband Oct. 6, 2011, after he received the Legion of Merit from Vice President Joe Biden during Kelly's retirement ceremony in Washington, D.C.
A joint memoir by Giffords and Kelly, “Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope”, with co-author Jeffrey Zaslow, was published in November.
In December 2011, she and her husband served a holiday meal to local troops.
For a while, Giffords kept her spot in Congress and was unsure whether she would run for re-election, although she continued to struggle with language and has lost 50 percent of her vision in both eyes at that point.
Giffords announced she planned to step down from Congress in a video on Jan. 22, 2012. She said she still needed time to recover, but she also vowed to return.
Ron Barber, who was Giffords' district director when he was also injured in the 2011 shooting, won Giffords' seat in a special election after her resignation. In 2012, he won a narrow victory to keep the seat during the general election.
Giffords and Kelly announced the launch of the anti-gun violence site Americans for Responsible Solutions on the second anniversary of the shooting.
