The anti-gun violence group founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords announced Wednesday it is joining with a legal center to promote “common sense” gun laws.
Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly founded Americans for Responsible Solutions in 2013, two years after Giffords was shot in the head in Tucson. Six people died and 13 were wounded in the shooting.
With Wednesday’s announcement, Giffords’ group joins with California-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, founded in 1993 after a shooting at a San Francisco law firm left eight dead and six wounded.
“By coming together, we can do more to take on the gun lobby, deliver even more victories for common sense, and save lives,” Giffords and Kelly said in a statement.
Giffords’ group promotes gun laws and is “committed to helping elect candidates from both parties who support common sense laws that make communities safer from gun violence,” the group said in the announcement.
The law center drafts gun safety legislation, defends gun laws in court, and educates the public on “common sense solutions to America’s gun violence epidemic,” the center’s executive director Robyn Thomas said in the announcement.
“By teaming up with Americans for Responsible Solutions, our legal experts will now have a much larger platform to help bring key policies like universal background checks to more states,” Thomas said.
The law center will operate as part of the Americans for Responsible Solutions Foundation.
“This merger unites the nation’s top gun safety messengers and advocates for common sense changes to our laws with the people who have the deepest expertise on our nation’s gun laws and gun policy,” Peter Ambler, director of the Americans for Responsible Solutions Foundation, said in the announcement.
“It’s a formidable combination that will lead the way on gun violence prevention for years to come,” Ambler said.
Federal Election Commission filings for the Americans for Responsible Solutions political action committee show the group brought in about $3 million in 2015. The law center’s tax return for 2014 showed it brought in about $1.4 million in revenue.
