--- description: Mark Kelly, the husband of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords who was shot in 2011, said the Virginia shooting was "unacceptable." title: Gabby Gifford's Husband: Shooting Targeting Congress Is 'Unacceptable' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcd8af0c4d78c25b/6988d1bb7cdbac46fad58c71/giffords-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Crime](/tag/crime/) ## Crime Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Gabby Gifford's Husband: Another Shooting Targeting Members of Congress Is 'Unacceptable' by [Jennifer Calfas](/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 14, 2017 9:35 PM CUT  NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 17: Gun violence victim and former U.S. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords speaks next to her husband, NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, as they visits City Hall on her 2016 Vocal Majority Tour on October 17, 2016 in New York City. Giffords and Kelly are on a six-week, nationwide bus tour to battleground states asking people to vote for candidates who support gun violence prevention legislation in this coming November election. The Vocal Majority Tour is a project of their national organization, Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC. Giffords, who has made a dramatic recovery, survived an assassination attempt in 2011 near Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 17: Gun violence victim and former U.S. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords speaks next to her husband, NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, as they visits City Hall on her 2016 Vocal Majority Tour on October 17, 2016 in New York City. Giffords and Kelly are on a six-week, nationwide bus tour to battleground states asking people to vote for candidates who support gun violence prevention legislation in this coming November election. The Vocal Majority Tour is a project of their national organization, Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC. Giffords, who has made a dramatic recovery, survived an assassination attempt in 2011 near Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)Spencer Platt—Getty Images by [Jennifer Calfas](/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 14, 2017 9:35 PM CUT The news of a gunman [opening fire](http://time.com/4817818/steve-scalise-alexandria-shooting/ "undefined") 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/ "undefined") “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/ "undefined") is [in critical condition](http://time.com/4817928/steve-scalise-congressional-baseball-game-biography/ "undefined") 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/ "undefined"), 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 "undefined") 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. ```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":"2026-02-23T16:09:18.450Z","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'"}}]}] ```