18 | DECEMBER 23 • 2021 

T

hough it faced obstacles gaining a 
foothold with in-person meetings, 
seminars and training opportuni-
ties due to the pandemic, the Michigan 
chapter of Giffords Gun Owners for Safety 
(Giffords) — in the aftermath of the hor-
rific Oxford High School mass shooting — 
hopes to grow its membership of gun own-
ers in 2022. The goal is to teach them the 
responsibilities of gun safety and handling 
while advocating for sensible gun control 
policy changes at the local and national 
level. Giffords is growing and has chapters 
in seven states. 
Giffords was found-
ed by former Arizona 
Congresswoman Gabrielle 
Giffords, a lifelong gun owner, 
who in 2011 was shot in the 
head by a mass shooter while 
greeting constituents in an 
Arizona shopping center parking lot. Six 
people died in the attack and 13 were 

wounded. Giffords built her organization 
around its mission of valuing gun owner-
ship and the Second Amendment as well as 
pushing for reforms in gun control to save 
the thousands of lives that are lost in the 
United States each year to gun violence. 
Giffords spent years relearning how to 
walk, talk and regain her mobility and 
cognitive skills. Recently, she celebrated 
becoming a bat mitzvah at her hometown 
synagogue in Tucson.
“My heart breaks knowing three high 
school students in Michigan will never 
receive their diplomas because their lives 
were taken in a senseless act of gun vio-
lence,
” Giffords told the JN in a released 
statement regarding Oxford. (Since then, 
another student died.) “Their families and 
their community will never be the same.
”
Giffords added that all the outrage and 
heartbreak over mass shooting deaths will 
make no difference if politicians at state and 
federal levels refuse to act to instate stricter 

gun control measures. 
“Every day that our country does not 
pass lifesaving gun laws is another day that 
we fail our children. This tragedy didn’t 
have to happen. It’s long past time for our 
elected leaders to stand up to the gun lobby 
and pass commonsense gun safety laws. 
Our children’s lives — all of our lives — 
depend on it,
” she wrote.

REFORMS PROPOSED 
IN STATE LEGISLATURE
The Michigan chapter is headed by newspa-
per journalist-turned-private- 
investigator Jonathan Gold. 
A gun owner and firearms 
instructor with more than 
25 years of experience, Gold 
has used his activism calling 
for gun control reform ever 
since the 2012 Sandy Hook 
Elementary School shooting. 
A member of Moms Demand Action 

Locking guns before 
storing them can keep 
children safer.
Local gun owners’ group hopes to gain members 
in the wake of the Oxford High shooting.

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Gabrielle 
Giffords

GAGE SKIDMORE 
VIA WIKIPEDIA

Jonathan 
Gold

Gun Ownership

OUR COMMUNITY

