This December, former US Congresswoman and Scripps alum Gabby Giffords ’93 met with US Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin to discuss gun safety efforts in the country. Giffords was accompanied by her team from her eponymous research center, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to saving lives from gun violence.
Giffords herself survived a gunshot wound to the head during a deadly mass shooting in 2011 that wounded 18 and took the lives of six people.
“Gabby turned immense trauma and pain into selfless action in all 50 states, and we had a productive conversation on the path forward to continue tackling the issue of gun safety reform during a second Trump administration,” says Durbin. “Gun violence is a stain on America, and together we can work to rid it from our communities.”
In 2023, Giffords returned to Scripps College for a special screening and panel discussion of the acclaimed 2022 documentary Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down, which chronicles her tireless work to prevent gun violence and raise awareness about aphasia after surviving the 2011 assassination attempt. Watch her Scripps Presents conversation here.