'I’m not going to be a Gabby Giffords': Congressman draws gun in meeting with constituents

William Cummings | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption S.C. GOP Congressman pulls out loaded handgun during meeting A South Carolina congressman pulled out his own loaded handgun during a meeting with constituents Friday to make a point about about gun violence.Veuer's Maria Mercedes Galuppo has more.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., pulled out his loaded .38-caliber handgun and placed it on a table for several minutes while making a point about gun rights during a meeting with constituents Friday.

"I’m not going to be a Gabby Giffords," Norman said, during the "coffee with constituents" meeting at a Rock Hill, S.C., restaurant. Giffords, a former Arizona congresswoman, was shot outside a grocery store during a constituent gathering in 2011.

"I don't mind dying, but whoever shoots me better shoot well or I'm shooting back," Norman told The Post and Courier.

Giffords’ husband, retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, said in a statement that Norman is "no Gabby Giffords."

"Americans are increasingly faced with a stark choice: leaders like Gabby, who work hard together to find solutions to problems, or extremists like the NRA and Congressman Norman, who rely on intimidation tactics and perpetuating fear," Kelly said.

Norman vowed to continue to display his gun at future constituent meetings.

"I'm tired of these liberals jumping on the guns themselves as if they are the cause of the problem," Norman told The Post and Courier. "Guns are not the problem."

He told the paper guns are only dangerous in the hands of criminals.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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