NEW YORK, April 7 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona says her patience is waning with lawmakers' foot-dragging over universal background checks for gun buyers.
Giffords, who was seriously wounded in the head by a mentally ill gunman as she addressed constituents in an Arizona parking lot on Jan. 8, 2011, said in an opinion article for the New York Daily News Sunday that she doesn't remember a time when the nation was as unified on an issue as it is on universal background checks.
Giffords said 90 percent of Americans support universal background check legislation, which has yet to be debated in Congress.
She cited the Bull Moose Society in saying 74 percent of National Rifle Association members and 72 percent of hunters also support background checks.
Giffords criticized the current system wherein responsible gun owners submit to background checks while criminals and the mentally ill are able to simply buy guns, no questions asked, at a gun show or on the Internet.
She said other related issues that should be addressed are reform of the mental health system, high-capacity ammunition magazines and the public's access to military assault-type weapons.
