Image by Getty Images

By Dave Goldiner April 8, 2018

A pro-gun Republican congressman mocked wounded ex-Rep. Gabby Giffords by brandishing a loaded handgun at a meeting with constituents in his South Carolina district — and suggesting she could have done more to protect herself.

Rep. Ralph Norman reportedly pulled out the licensed .38-caliber weapon on a table and suggested that Giffords could have avoided being shot by a crazed stalker if she too had been armed.

“I’m not going to be a Gabby Giffords,” Norman told the Post and Courier of Charleston after the meeting in the town of Rock Hill.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“I’m tired of these liberals jumping on the guns themselves as if they are the cause of the problem,” he added. “Guns are not the problem.”

Giffords, who was nearly killed in the 2011 Tucson shooting attack and has since become an anti-gun violence advocate, quickly hit back through her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly.

“Americans are increasingly faced with a stark choice: leaders like Gabby, who work hard together to find solutions to problems, or extremists like the [National Rifle Association] and Congressman Norman, who rely on intimidation tactics and perpetuating fear,” Kelly said.

The divide over gun control has become especially heated in the weeks since 17 students were killed by an ex-classmate at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

Survivors have demanded new laws restricting access to weapons, but gun-rights groups have pushed back hard.

Norman won an unexpectedly narrow victory in a 2017 special election to replace White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney in the deep-red district.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount