Earlier this evening, lefties got the hashtag #DoItForGabby trending. “Gabby” is Gabby Giffords, the former congresswoman who was shot in the head in Tucson, Ariz., two years ago. Earlier this week, Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly founded a gun control organization that aims to “[b]an assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, limit guns per individual, require registration, and expand background checks.”
#DoItForGabby trending number 4 in the US uniteblue.com/doitforgabby/
— Breaking News Trends (@TrendingBlue) January 14, 2013
The success was short-lived, however, as Second Amendment supporters quickly commandeered the hashtag and taught the gun-grabbers some hard truths.
Truth #1: Giffords hasn’t always been a crusader for gun control.
#DoItForGabby Things change when you aren’t campaigning for office anymore. Hypocrite #tcot #tlot #tgdn #opslam twitpic.com/bv1fyg
— ne1 g0tz (@exposeliberals) January 14, 2013
Giffords posted that photo to her Flickr page in the fall of 2010. As @exposeliberals notes, it was different then. She was running for re-election and wanted votes from Second Amendment supporters.
Truth #2: The man who shot Giffords, Jared Laughner, did not use an “assault weapon” to carry out his attack.
#DoItForGabby?! Loughner didn’t use an assault rifle! What are you wanting to “Do for Gabby?”
— Matt Dawson (@SaintRPh) January 14, 2013
Loughner used a Glock semi-automatic handgun, the same kind of gun that Giffords used to brag about owning. Loughner used just one gun, not many. He obtained his weapon legally, and was able to pass a federal background check. Aside from restrictions on high-capacity magazines, it is unclear how any of Giffords’ proposals would have slowed Loughner down.
Truth #3: Laughner has serious mental health problems.
Help mothers of mentally ill sons get them help!#DoItForGabby, so there are no more Jared Lee Loughner’s out there preying on innocents.
— HeelsandHandguns (@HeelsandHandgun) January 14, 2013
Because crazy leftists like Jared Loughner should be locked up, #DoItForGabby.
— Loren Heal(@lheal) January 14, 2013
It is time to stop pretending there is no link between mental illness and mass shootings. It is also time to re-consider deinstitutionalization. Let’s do it. For Gabby.
