Giffords urges lawmakers: 'Have some courage,' meet voters


              Former U.S. Congresswoman and mass shooting survivor Gabrielle Giffords, left, greets an admirer at the Statehouse in Santa Fe, N.M., on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017. Giffords and her national gun-safety advocacy group Americans for Responsible Solutions are trying to build support for bills that would expand background checks on private firearms sales in New Mexico and remove guns from domestic violence situations where a restraining order has bee issued. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)
Former U.S. Congresswoman and mass shooting survivor Gabrielle Giffords, left, greets an admirer at the Statehouse in Santa Fe, N.M., on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017. Giffords and her national gun-safety advocacy group Americans for Responsible Solutions are trying to build support for bills that would expand background checks on private firearms sales in New Mexico and remove guns from domestic violence situations where a restraining order has bee issued. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords - who survived an assassination attempt - is urging members of Congress to "have some courage" and face their constituents.

Her comments Thursday are in response to a Texas congressman - Republican Louie Gohmert - who this week invoked Giffords' 2011 shooting in explaining why he's currently only holding telephone town halls.

Gohmert says there are groups "from the more violent strains of the leftist ideology" who are attending town halls to wreak havoc and threaten public safety.

Giffords says town halls were a hallmark of her time in Congress, and she continues to meet with the public today in campaigning for stricter gun laws.

Gohmert says that when the threat of violence recedes, he'll go back "to the civil town hall meetings" he's had before.

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