GabrielleΒ Giffords,Β one of 19 people wounded in a mass shooting in 2011 during a meet-and-greet at a Tucson-area grocery store,Β saluted students participating in school walkouts over gun violence.
"Students across the country are showing more courage and conviction in their calls to stop gun violence than many members of Congress ever have," Giffords wrote in a Tweet Wednesday morning.
Another Arizona legislator who also survived the Tucson shooting with the then-Congresswoman also saluted the students.
State Rep. Daniel Hernandez said in a Twitter post Wednesday that he stands "in solidarity with all of the young people walking to demand action on gun violence."
Hernandez also said in his Twitter post that he's reminded now that young people aren't just the future but also what he called "vital voices NOW."
The Tucson Democrat was an intern for Giffords in 2011 when he helped her immediately after she was shot in the head at a constituent event in the Tucson area.
The lawmaker told The Associated Press during a phone interview that he planned to give the students a "shout-out" during the House conducted its floor session later Wednesday.
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Some Arizona high school students are expected to head to the state Capitol in Phoenix for a rally protesting gun violence such as the shooting recently took the lives of 17 people in Florida.
Seventeen-minute walkouts are scheduled Wednesday at a scattering of schools around Arizona. Phoenix's high school district is on spring break this week.
One Phoenix elementary school is making Wednesday a "day of caring" in response to some of its older students expressing interest in participating in the national walkout.
Principal Mike Duff of the K-8 Madison Traditional Academy said many seventh- and eighth-graders expressed a desire to show support.
The school's students will place pink ribbons on a school fence, with older students helping younger ones.
