Gabby Giffords Rips Senate In New York Times Op-Ed: ‘I Am Furious’

The failure of the Joe Manchin/Pat Toomey background check amendment, at the hands of a Republican filibuster that was abetted by four Democrats, will reverberate for years to come, propelled by seismic thunderbolts like the eloquent outrage of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. In a New York Times op-ed published Thursday morning, the most famous survivor of the Tucson mass shooting mustered all of the rage and disappointment that people are feeling over this betrayal, and funneled it into a battle cry for those who are sick and tired of a U.S. Senate that ignores the people who put them there, in favor of those whom they’re afraid might take them out.

The Manchin/Toomey background check amendment received a majority of the votes Wednesday, including four votes by Republican Sens. John McCain (R-AZ, NRA rating=B+), Susan Collins (R-ME, NRA rating=C+), Mark Kirk (R-IL, NRA rating=F), andPat Toomey (R-PA, NRA rating=A), but thanks to a Republican filibuster, the 54 “yes” votes were not enough to overcome a Republican filibuster that was joined by Democratic Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT, NRA rating=A+), Mark Begich (D-AK, NRA rating=A), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND, NRA rating=A) and Mark Pryor (D-AR, NRA rating=C-). Giffords writes, in her op-ed, that this minority of senators “gave into fear” of the NRA, and wrenchingly puts that fear in perspective:

SENATORS say they fear the N.R.A. and the gun lobby. But I think that fear must be nothing compared to the fear the first graders in Sandy Hook Elementary School felt as their lives ended in a hail of bullets. The fear that those children who survived the massacre must feel every time they remember their teachers stacking them into closets and bathrooms, whispering that they loved them, so that love would be the last thing the students heard if the gunman found them.

If those senators fear the NRA, then they haven’t seen anything yet, because Gabby Giffords is coming for them:

Speaking is physically difficult for me. But my feelings are clear: I’m furious. I will not rest until we have righted the wrong these senators have done, and until we have changed our laws so we can look parents in the face and say: We are trying to keep your children safe. We cannot allow the status quo — desperately protected by the gun lobby so that they can make more money by spreading fear and misinformation — to go on.

I am asking every reasonable American to help me tell the truth about the cowardice these senators demonstrated. I am asking for mothers to stop these lawmakers at the grocery store and tell them: You’ve lost my vote. I am asking activists to unsubscribe from these senators’ e-mail lists and to stop giving them money. I’m asking citizens to go to their offices and say: You’ve disappointed me, and there will be consequences.

Rep. Giffords’ op-ed is an irrefutable damnation of the senate’s failure to live up to even the most modest expectations of its constituents, and every American should read every syllable of it, but that part is the most important. The United States Senate has failed its test, and this issue has now become a test of the American people. Gabby Giffords is counting on Americans to resist the heavy gravitational pull toward the status quo, and the siren song of the loudest voice in the room, to hold on to the grief and anger we feel now and unleash it at the ballot box next year. Unfortunately, I’m a believer in human nature, and not the good kind, and I don’t believe in the ability of the ten percent of voters who decide everything to resist the braying of their obnoxious uncle. Hopefully, people like Gabby will be louder, and more persuasive.

Read: A Senate In The Gun Lobby’s Grip by Gabrielle Giffords

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.