In an National Review Online post, Kevin D. Williamson responded to Gabby Gifford's New York Times op-ed by churlishly calling her out as an embarrassment.
While Ms. Giffords certainly has my sympathy for the violence she suffered, it should be noted that being shot in the head by a lunatic does not give one any special grace to pronounce upon public-policy questions, nor does it give one moral license to call people “cowards” for holding public-policy views at variance with one’s own. Her childish display in the New York Times is an embarrassment.
I'll tell you what is an embarrassment, Mr. Williamson. It is a Senate who voted against the will of 90 percent of this nation and instead caved to the craven demands of the National Rifle Association. What is embarrassing is having people like you defend this action and take it upon yourself to decide that a shooting victim who was a member of the United States Congress has no moral license to speak out on behalf of the overwhelming majority of this country who stand in agreement with her. What is cringe-inducing is to have people who carry your same sentiments tell the parents of the children killed in the Newtown massacre that they should have no voice in the debate and declare they are merely being used as props.
Given the nation's focus right now on the drama unfolding in Boston, I expect your vile slam against Gabby Giffords will go largely unnoticed, Mr Williamson. However, I noticed and am compelled to share your shameful attack on her.
In the meantime, I stand with Ms. Giffords and will join her in her efforts to fire the members of Congress who chose to pander to the will of the NRA rather than the people they were sent to represent.
Some of the senators who voted against the background-check amendments have met with grieving parents whose children were murdered at Sandy Hook, in Newtown. Some of the senators who voted no have also looked into my eyes as I talked about my experience being shot in the head at point-blank range in suburban Tucson two years ago, and expressed sympathy for the 18 other people shot besides me, 6 of whom died. These senators have heard from their constituents — who polls show overwhelmingly favored expanding background checks. And still these senators decided to do nothing. Shame on them.
Mark my words: if we cannot make our communities safer with the Congress we have now, we will use every means available to make sure we have a different Congress, one that puts communities’ interests ahead of the gun lobby’s. To do nothing while others are in danger is not the American way.