WASHINGTON — A former US congresswoman who was shot in the head in a 2011 mass shooting begged lawmakers at an emotional hearing to act quickly to curb firearms because “Americans are counting on you.” Not everyone agreed, underscoring the national political divide over gun control. Giffords' 80-word plea was the most riveting moment, delivered in a hushed, halting voice two years after the Arizona Democrat suffered head wounds in a Tucson shooting spree. At the same hearing, a top official of the nation's most powerful gun lobby group, the National Rifle Association, rejected Democratic proposals to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. Even if stronger background checks did identify a criminal, “as long as you let him go, you're not keeping him from getting a gun and you're not preventing him from getting to the next crime scene,” said Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president. Giffords, who retired from Congress last year, focused during her brief appearance on the carnage from armed assailants. “Too many children are dying,” she said at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. “Too many children. We must do something. It will be hard, but the time is now.” — AP
