Gabby Giffords will visit CT Capitol for gun safety

 

gabbyHARTFORD – Former U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona will join legislative leaders and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Tuesday to support pending legislation that would force those accused of domestic violence to quickly surrender their firearms, Hearst Connecticut Media has learned.

Giffords, who survived a January, 2011 assassination attempt in a Tucson incident that killed six and wounded 13, will add weight to the gun-safety issue that was the subject of a 16-and-a-half-hour public hearing last week before the Judiciary Committee.

The 3 p.m. event in the Capitol, according to sources familiar with the event. will also include Merry Jackson of Oxford, who was wounded when her estranged son-in-law, Scott Gellatly, allegedly invaded her home and shot her daughter, Lori Jackson, to death last May.

Since resigning from the U.S. House of Representatives in January, 2012, Giffords has been a national gun-safety advocate.

Under current law, owners of guns who are targets of restraining orders do not have to surrender their weapons until a hearing 14 days after police serve them the orders. The pending bill would allow judges to immediately order the seizure of weapons upon a victim’s initial request for a temporary restraining order.