The Democratic Party has put combating gun violence at the forefront of its campaign, with the issue given primetime exposure on the final night of the party convention in Chicago on Thursday, as survivors and relatives of victims took to the stage to tell their stories.
Former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was one of 13 people wounded (another six were killed) in a 2011 shooting while meeting with constituents outside a supermarket in Tucson and has since become an advocate for gun control, recalled how Joe Biden “checked in” on her consistently as she recovered. “Joe is a great President,” she said. “Kamala will be a great President. She is tough. She has grit. Kamala can beat the gun lobby. She can fight gun trafficking.”
Preceding Giffords at the convention stage was Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.), another gun safety advocate with a personal connection to the issue: her 17-year-old son was shot dead in 2012.
“Our losses do not weaken us,” McBath said on stage, surrounded by a group of survivors and relatives of other victims. “They strengthen our resolve. We will secure safer futures that we all deserve. We will organize, we will advocate. We will run for office, and we will join with Americans from small towns and big cities to keep our communities safe, and we will elect leaders like Kamala Harris who won’t just empathize, but will act.”
Abbey Clements of Newton, Conn., spoke on surviving the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting. “I carry that horrific day with me: 20 beautiful first-grade children and six of my beautiful colleagues were killed,” Clements said. “They should still be here.”
Kim Rubio of Uvalde, Texas, whose 10-year-old daughter died in the shooting at Robb Elementary School in 2022, said: “Parents everywhere reach for their children. I reach out for the daughter I will never hold again.”
Melody McFadden of Charleston, S.C., whose mother Patricia Ann Geddis was shot and killed by her abusive partner, and whose niece…
