How old is representative gabrielle giffords

She is able to use her left side, has limited use of her right arm and leg, and has begun walking a little. August 1, - Returns to the floor of the House of Representatives to vote in support of a plan to raise the US debt ceiling. In the audio book version, Rep. Giffords reads aloud the final chapter. January 8, - Giffords attends a vigil in Tucson, Arizona, marking the one-year anniversary of the shooting.

She leads the crowd of thousands in the Pledge of Allegiance and later lights a memorial candle for the six people killed. January 22, - Announces via her website, she will resign from the US House of Representatives to concentrate on her health and recuperation. June 9, - Giffords appears at a get-out-the-vote rally at the Rialto Theater in Tucson, Arizona, to campaign for Ron Barber, her former aide who is running for her congressional seat.

November 8, - Along with Kelly, attends the sentencing hearing for Loughner, the man who shot her. Kelly testifies on Giffords' behalf, "Mr. Loughner, you may have put a bullet through her head but you have not put a dent in her spirit and her ability to do good. January 8, - Giffords and her husband launch the website, Americans for Responsible Solutions, which addresses gun violence prevention and gun owner responsibility.

January 30, - Giffords and Kelly appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to make a statement about gun violence in the United States. Giffords becomes the first living woman to have a Navy warship bear her name since the Lady Washington was named after Martha Washington in ; and Giffords is only the third living woman in US history to see her name on a naval vessel.

October - Americans for Responsible Solutions, the website launched by Giffords and her husband in , is renamed "Giffords. January 8, - On the eighth anniversary of the day she was shot, Giffords returns to Capitol Hill to help House Democrats introduce a bill requiring background checks on private transactions related to gun sales.

Throughout her life, Gabby has sought to improve her community and country by using her extraordinary ability to bring people together to focus on how we can make things better.

This trait has made her a powerful public figure in this moment and inspires people every day to take actions of their own to make a difference.

Gabby stepped down from Congress in January to focus on her recovery. In , after the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, Gabby co-founded the organization today known as Giffords. Over the past several years, the organization has been a leader in the national gun safety movement, making gun safety a kitchen table issue for voters.

William G. Detroit Free Press. Meg Whitman. Al Gore. Jeff DeWit. The Arizona Republic. Joe Biden. Barack Obama. Newt Gingrich. CBS News. Roger F. Villere Jr. Republican Party of Louisiana. Steve Beshear. The Courier-Journal. Sheldon Adelson. Kathleen Sebelius. Scott Brown. Boston Herald. Lincoln Almond. Jeb Bush. Ann Marie Buerkle. Carly Fiorina. Eric Holder. Tony Perkins. Ted Cruz. The Huffington Post. Jon Kyl. Marco Rubio. Norm Coleman. Minnesota Public Radio. Lucy Flores. Bernie Sanders.

Sarah Palin. The New York Times. Eric Cantor. Brian Schweitzer. Two years ago, the Democratic-controlled House passed legislation to strengthen the federal background check system — in a nod to Giffords, it was introduced on Jan. Now Democrat Joe Biden is poised to be inaugurated as president and the new Senate will be under Democratic control, improving its prospects for passage.

That is her top priority for the year, Giffords said. Patience and persistence, even in the face of setbacks, are qualities she has honed in her own recovery from the bullet that pierced her brain.

She has limited use of her right arm and leg; she walks with a limp and uses a cane. Her memory is sharp and her humor intact, but she struggles to speak. For her videotaped remarks to the Democratic National Convention in August, which lasted about 90 seconds, she practiced and trained with her speech therapist for hours, Ambler estimated. That said, her use of language this week was more fluent than it had been during a USA TODAY interview with her in , although she still typically responds to a question with just a word or two.

Now 50, she seemed more confident and relaxed. She easily recalled the name of a Tucson restaurant she had taken the reporter to more than six years earlier — it was Pizzeria Bianco — and lamented the fact that it has since closed. Lot of Zoom. She has been taking a virtual yoga class twice a week as well as French horn lessons and Spanish lessons. She rides her recumbent bike whenever she can.

Really cold!