Gabrielle Giffords, a former U.S. representative, was in Portland Tuesday night leading a roundtable (of nearly all women) which predominantly focused on the intersection of domestic violence with gun violence.
Giffords, 44, made her second-to-last stop on a 9-state tour. Traveling alongside members of her outreach group, Americans for Responsible Solutions, she headed a roundtable with the likes of United States Oregon Attorney Amanda Marshall, Multnomah County Commissioner Judy Shiprack and state representative Barbara Smith Warner, among others.
Giffords herself is a victim of gun violence. In January 2011 in Arizona, she survived an assassination attempt which culminated in six fatalities and more than a dozen injuries. At the time, Giffords was hosting a constituent meeting in the parking lot of a Safeway near Tuscon as a part of her “Congress on Your Corner” initiative to familiarize communities with their representatives. In the midst of the meeting, the gunman opened fire on government officials as well as local community members. As a result of the attack, Giffords suffered a traumatic brain injury that partially paralyzed her right side and affected her speech and mobility.
Giffords arrived at Grant around 6:30 pm and kicked off the roundtable with a straightforward statement, setting the tone for the discussion.
“Dangerous people with guns are a threat to women,” she said. “Crimals with guns. Abusers with guns. Stalkers with guns. That makes gun violence a women’s issue.”
Giffords, who led another discussion earlier in the day Tuesday in Des Moines, Iowa, sat next to Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence director Vanessa Timmons, who moderated the discussion.
Those in attendance agreed that discussions regarding gun and domestic violence have to start early. They pointed to having discussions with children of either gender in elementary school as a possible solution.
“The big strategy is no more silence,” Timmons said.
Some also stated that the conversations need to be direct and open.
“I think we have to have very blunt, honest conversations at a level that everybody can participate and understand. Before it gets to prosecution, before it gets to the courts,” retired Gresham Chief of Police Carla Piluso states. “I’ve had a 30 year law enforcement career, and guns always end up in the wrong person’s hands…I have seen the most horrific homicide scenes. And so yeah, I’ll take it to the grandiose level if it’s going to get somebody’s attention. I mean, that’s what we have to do. It has to become a conversation.”
After about an hour and a half, the discussion came to a close. The event, which was invitation only, was covered by more than half a dozen television, radio, and news outlets. As the group filtered out of the Grant Magazine newsroom, many traded cards and exchanged thanks for the efforts put forward in the pursuance of defeating the violence.
Giffords and her team caught a Tuesday night flight to Seattle, Wash., which was the last of her 9-stop Protect All Women tour around the country.
