Gohmert Responds to Giffords Comments

WASHINGTON (AP/Staff) – Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords – who survived an assassination attempt – is urging members of Congress to “have some courage” and face their constituents. Her comments Thursday are in response to Republican Louie Gohmert of Tyler, who this week invoked Giffords’ 2011 shooting in explaining why he’s currently only holding telephone town halls. Gohmert says there are groups “from the more violent strains of the leftist ideology” who are attending town halls to wreak havoc and threaten public safety. Giffords says town halls were a hallmark of her time in Congress, and she continues to meet with the public today in campaigning for stricter gun laws.

Gohmert responded that he greatly admires Giffords – but that he is not a coward. He adds that when the threat of violence recedes, he’ll go back “to the civil town hall meetings” he’s had before – and that he won’t “be subjected to mob rule.” This week, about 60 people seeking to meet with Gohmert protested outside a Tyler lunch event at which he was speaking, but they claimed they were demonstrating peacefully.