Gabby Giffords, the Arizona former congresswoman who survived being shot in the head in 2011, and a handful of other people touched by gun violence recounted their stories onstage on Thursday during an emotional moment at the Democratic national convention in Chicago.
“I almost died, but I fought for my life and I survived. I learned to walk again, one step at a time. I learned to talk in one word at a time,” said Giffords of her recovery. Giffords was helped on stage by her husband, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).
“So many people held me as I worked hard to recover, including a decent man from Delaware who always checked in. He still does. Thank you. Joe Biden,” Giffords said.
Other survivors and victims were introduced by Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Georgia), a member of Congress who lost her son Jordan in a gas station shooting, as Democrats sought to drive home presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ anti-gun violence stance.
Congressional Democrats were unable to get meaningful gun control legislation passed in the wake of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. But in 2022, following another mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Congress broke its long deadlock on federal legislation with the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which allocated money for “red flag” laws and enhancing background checks for gun-buyers under 21.
Kimberly Mata-Rubio, who lost her daughter in the 2022 school shooting at Uvalde, described the day her 10-year-old daughter was killed.
“She wears a St. Mary’s sweatshirt and a smile that lights up the room. Thirty minutes later a gunman murders her, 18 classmates and two teachers,” Mata-Rubio said. “Parents everywhere reach out for their children. I reach out for the daughter I will never hold again.”
A second grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Abbey Clements, described the chaos of the 2012 shooting there that left 26 people dead, including 20 children.
“Terror, crying, running. I carry that horrific day with me. Twenty beautiful first grade children and six of my beautiful colleagues were killed,” she said. With her voice nearly breaking, she said, “They should still be here.”
Edgar Vilchez, whose high school classmate was shot in another incident, said the experience taught him “how to run, how to hide and drop, that what happens in the news can happen to me.”
Melody McFadden said her 22-year-old niece was shot after driving to Myrtle Beach, S.C.
“Hours later, my phone rang. Shooting on the beach. No one can find Sandy,” she recounted. But McFadden remained calm, she said, because she had experienced gun violence before, when her mother was shot by an abusive partner.
McFadden said her calls to find her niece were eventually routed to a coroner’s office.
“Ten years of waiting and Sandy’s murder is still unsolved,” she said. “I’ll keep calling. And I’ll keep fighting.”