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NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg meets with Gabrielle Giffords on Gun Control

January 4, 2013

You’d think that if a congresswoman got shot in the head, that would have changed Congress’ views.

— NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg

©2013 By Holly Bailey, Yahoo! News

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg met privately with Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on January 2, 2013.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg met privately with Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on January 2, 2013.

NEW YORK—New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg held a private meeting Wednesday with former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who nearly lost her life when she was shot in the head at point blank range at a constituent meeting two years ago.

The sit-down, which wasn’t listed on Bloomberg’s public schedule, was first confirmed via the mayor’s office Twitter feed, which posted a photo of Bloomberg and his aides meeting with Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly.

Since then, Giffords and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, have campaigned against gun violence and have been outspoken in their support of an assault weapons ban.

The day of the Sandy Hook shooting three weeks ago, Kelly tweeted, “20 – 5 year olds gunned down in their own classroom. When will we address this problem as a nation? The time is now.”

Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot during a public meeting held in a supermarket parking lot in Casas Adobes, near Tucson, Arizona in 2011.

Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords

Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for Bloomberg, told Yahoo News it was the first time Bloomberg and Giffords had met in person and they talked for “nearly an hour.” He declined to say specifically what they discussed. But a source told the New York Post that the group talked about Bloomberg’s efforts to pressure President Barack Obama and Congress to pass tougher gun control laws in the wake of last month’s deadly school shooting in Newtown, Conn–a message that has been echoed by Giffords and Kelly.

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