Giffords to Attend 1st Gun Show Since Shooting

To promote background checks
By Ruth Brown,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 12, 2013 3:27 PM CDT
Giffords to Attend 1st Gun Show Since Shooting
Capt. Mark Kelly speaks next to his wife, former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.   (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

A gun show may seem like the last thing a shooting victim would want to attend, but Gabrielle Giffords won't be at the Saratoga Springs Arms Fair tomorrow to promote firearms—the former Arizona congresswoman is going to promote stricter gun control laws. New York's gun shows are now adhering to strict state laws passed earlier this year which, amongst other things, bans military-style weapons, limits ammo rounds, taxes bullets, and makes all buyers undergo a background check, the AP reports.

"The state's model helps keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them—like criminals and the dangerously mentally ill—without infringing on our Second Amendment rights," says Gifford's husband, a former combat pilot and astronaut, who is helping with her campaign to promote background checks nation-wide. The promoter of the Saratoga Springs show says she was happy to comply with the new rules. "Certain states will fight background checks tooth and nail, but in New York State we don’t have a problem with it," she says, per the NY Daily News. (More gun control stories.)

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