--- title: Steve Scalise Shot: Gabby Gifford's Husband Condemns Attack description: Mark Kelly, the husband of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords who was shot in 2011, said the Virginia shooting was "unacceptable." canonical: https://time.com/4819086/gabby-giffords-mark-kelly-virginia-shooting-steve-scalise/ author: Jennifer Calfas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-14T21:35:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:07:31.099Z article:section: Politics og:title: Gabby Gifford's Husband: Shooting Targeting Congress Is 'Unacceptable' og:description: He said the news of the shooting hit Giffords "pretty hard" og:url: https://time.com/4819086/gabby-giffords-mark-kelly-virginia-shooting-steve-scalise/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcd8af0c4d78c25b/6988d1bb7cdbac46fad58c71/giffords-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Gabby Giffords Speaks Out Against Gun Violence In New York City og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Gabby Gifford's Husband: Shooting Targeting Congress Is 'Unacceptable' twitter:description: He said the news of the shooting hit Giffords "pretty hard" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcd8af0c4d78c25b/6988d1bb7cdbac46fad58c71/giffords-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Gabby Gifford's Husband: Another Shooting Targeting Members of Congress Is 'Unacceptable' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=7d769447-dce6-47d0-8860-bc6b58f9a4b9&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Gabby Gifford's Husband: Another Shooting Targeting Members of Congress Is 'Unacceptable' [Watch (HLS stream): Gabby Gifford's Husband: Another Shooting Targeting Members of Congress Is 'Unacceptable'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qUNSgeFB.m3u8) (0:32)  _Published 2017-06-14. The news of a gunman opening fire at a baseball field filled with Republican members of Congress Wednesday morning hit former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords "pretty hard," according to her husband._ by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Jun 14, 2017 9:35 PM UTC The news of a gunman opening fire at a baseball field filled with Republican members of Congress Wednesday morning hit former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords "pretty hard," according to her husband. by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Jun 14, 2017 9:35 PM UTC The news of a gunman [opening fire](http://time.com/4817818/steve-scalise-alexandria-shooting/) at a baseball field filled with Republican members of Congress Wednesday morning hit former Congresswoman [Gabby Giffords](http://time.com/4681271/gabby-giffords-town-halls/) “pretty hard,” according to her husband. Giffords was shot in the head in 2011 when a gunman opened fire at a constituent meeting in Tucson, Ariz., in an assassination attempt while she was still a congresswoman. House Majority Whip [Steve Scalise](http://time.com/4817777/alexandria-shooting-steve-scalise/) is [in critical condition](http://time.com/4817928/steve-scalise-congressional-baseball-game-biography/) and several others were injured with gunshot wounds as a result of the incident. “For her, having experienced something like this in her district, to see this happen again with her colleagues on the other side of the aisle, it’s completely — it’s unacceptable, it’s sad,” Gifford’s husband Mark Kelly, a retired American astronaut, told CNN. “I’d say it hit her pretty hard.” > [](https://twitter.com/TheLeadCNN/status/875091730890186753) The shooter, identified as [James Hodgkinson](http://time.com/4818165/steve-scalise-shooting-suspect-james-hodgkinson/), a 66-year-old man from Illinois, died in a hospital after exchanging fire with law enforcement. Before the attack on Wednesday, Giffords was the most recent member of Congress to have been shot. “This shooting is an attack on all who serve and on all who participate in our democracy,” Giffords [wrote](https://twitter.com/GabbyGiffords/status/875032669301743616) in a statement about Wednesday’s shooting. “I am thankful for the great courage of the Capitol Police, who were my protectors after I was shot and became my friends,” she added. “I also know the courage it takes to recover from a shooting like this, and I know Steve and everyone there this morning have such courage in great supply.” Giffords has long been an advocate for gun control. In Jan. 2013, she and Kelly launched a political action committee called Americans for Responsible Solutions. ## Transcript When this happened it was pretty early in the morning, and I woke her up by turning the TV on because I saw what happened on my phone. She wasn't too happy about that. And then she saw the reason why I had turned on the TV. You know, for her having experienced something like this in her district, to see this happen again with her Colleagues on the other side of the island know it is completely unacceptable, it's sad, it really hit us pretty hard. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4819086/gabby-giffords-mark-kelly-virginia-shooting-steve-scalise/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4819086/gabby-giffords-mark-kelly-virginia-shooting-steve-scalise/"},"headline":"Gabby Gifford's Husband: Another Shooting Targeting Members of Congress Is 'Unacceptable'","datePublished":"2017-06-14T21:35:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:07:31.099Z","description":"He said the news of the shooting hit Giffords \"pretty hard\"","url":"https://time.com/4819086/gabby-giffords-mark-kelly-virginia-shooting-steve-scalise/","keywords":["Crime","Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcd8af0c4d78c25b/6988d1bb7cdbac46fad58c71/giffords-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Calfas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcd8af0c4d78c25b/6988d1bb7cdbac46fad58c71/giffords-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Gabby Giffords Speaks Out Against Gun Violence In New York City","caption":"Gabby Giffords Speaks Out Against Gun Violence In New York City","creditText":"Spencer Platt—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/crime/","name":"Crime"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4819086/gabby-giffords-mark-kelly-virginia-shooting-steve-scalise/","name":"Gabby Gifford's Husband: Another Shooting Targeting Members of Congress Is 'Unacceptable'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Gabby Gifford's Husband: Another Shooting Targeting Members of Congress Is 'Unacceptable'","description":"The news of a gunman opening fire at a baseball field filled with Republican members of Congress Wednesday morning hit former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords \"pretty hard,\" according to her husband.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/qUNSgeFB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-06-14T21:41:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qUNSgeFB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4819086/gabby-giffords-mark-kelly-virginia-shooting-steve-scalise/","duration":"PT32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4819086/gabby-giffords-mark-kelly-virginia-shooting-steve-scalise/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```