Gabby Giffords still struggles with her speech, five years after she was shot in the head in a mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona.

But standing beside Hillary Clinton in Ames, Iowa, on Saturday, the former congresswoman said there were two words she looked forward to saying one year from now: “Madame President”.

“Hillary is tough,” Giffords said at a rally with Clinton two days before the Iowa caucuses. “In the White House, she will stand up to the gun lobby. That’s why I’m voting for Hillary.”

Giffords was joined by her husband, the retired astronaut Mark Kelly, with whom she co-founded the anti-gun violence group Americans for Responsible Solutions after the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. They endorsed Clinton earlier this month, but Saturday marked their first appearance on the campaign trail.

Clinton has increasingly sought to make gun control a wedge issue between her and Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator with whom she is locked in an Iowa polling dead heat. The Clinton campaign has aggressively pushed the narrative that Sanders’ record on gun safety has, on occasion, been more aligned with the agenda of the National Rifle Association. In return, Sanders has consistently pointed to his D- rating from the NRA.

What is wrong with us? How can we continue to ignore the toll that this is taking on our children and on our country? Hillary Clinton

“The facts cry out for action,” Clinton said of gun violence at the rally on Saturday, citing statistics showing roughly 33,000 gun-related deaths each year in America. “This is as important a challenge as I think we face here at home.

“What is wrong with us? How can we continue to ignore the toll that this is taking on our children and on our country?”

Clinton also dismissed opponents who argue that any tightening of gun laws would infringe upon the second amendment.

“The actions we take can certainly be done consistent with the constitution and the right of gun owners,” she said. “That has never been a doubt unless you’re a paid lobbyist for the gun lobby.”

Saturday’s busy campaign events – for candidates in both parties, ahead of voting on Monday – came at a tense time for the Clinton campaign.



Not only are the polls close in Iowa, but on Friday the Obama administration confirmed for the first time that the unsecured home server Clinton used while secretary of state contained some of the US government’s most closely guarded secrets, censoring 22 emails containing material demanding one of the highest levels of classification.

Clinton has constantly fought off attacks from Republican candidates over her use of private email while serving as the top US diplomat during Barack Obama’s first term in the White House.

On Saturday morning in Iowa, she focused on gun control.

In past campaign speeches and on the debate stage, Clinton has pointed to Sanders’ votes against the Brady bill – Reagan-era legislation that imposed federal background checks and a waiting period on gun purchases – and for a 2005 regulation that granted gun manufacturers legal immunity if weapons were used to commit crime.



She has also pointed out that Sanders once voted in favor of the so-called “Charleston loophole” – the name for a provision under which a gun sale is required to proceed if a background check is not completed within three days.

It was under this loophole that authorities said Dylann Roof, the gunman who killed nine African American churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina last June, was able to acquire his gun despite holding a previous drug offense.

Sanders, who insists that he has been a tough opponent of the gun lobby and often points to his background in a rural state in which hunting is popular, this week said he now backs – and will in fact co-sponsor – efforts to repeal that 2005 law.

Polls of the Democratic field in Iowa constantly show Clinton and Sanders within the margin of error: on Saturday the realclearpolitics.com average of polls in the state had Clinton at 46.8% and Sanders at 44.3%, with former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley way behind at 4.3%.



For the Clinton campaign, such figures raise the specter of 2008, when defeat in the state by Obama presaged defeat, from a position of favoritism, in the wider Democratic primary.

Sanders holds a healthy lead in New Hampshire, the next state to vote, though nationally Clinton leads by double digits.

Bernie Sanders waves as he arrives at a campaign rally at the Delaware County fairgrounds in Manchester, Iowa. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

On Saturday morning, the New York Times announced that it was endorsing Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

In a lengthy piece explaining its thinking, the Times’ editorial board compared the two candidates on key issues while dismissing O’Malley as “more suited for the jobs he has already had – governor of Maryland and mayor of Baltimore – than for president”.

“Mrs Clinton is a strong advocate of sensible and effective measures to combat the plague of firearms,” the board wrote. “Mr Sanders’ record on guns is relatively weak.”

On the Republican side of the ledger, the Times board wrote: “Governor John Kasich of Ohio, though a distinct underdog, is the only plausible choice for Republicans tired of the extremism and inexperience on display in this race.”

On Saturday in Iowa, Clinton appeared at campaign events with her husband, former president Bill Clinton, and her daughter Chelsea.

Sanders was also due to host a number of events in Iowa, including an evening rally featuring performances from musical supporters Vampire Weekend and Foster the People.