A US congressman said he pulled out a loaded Smith & Wesson pistol during a meeting with gun control activists on Friday in a bid to prove that firearms were not responsible for violence.

House Republican Ralph Norman of South Carolina told The Post and Courier newspaper that he drew the handgun and placed it on a table while at a "Coffee With Your Congressman" event at a diner, in an attempt to convey that guns are only dangerous if in the wrong hands.

"I’m not going to be a Gabby Giffords," said Norman, 64, referring to the former congresswoman from Arizona who was shot in the head during a meet-and-greet outside a grocery store in 2011.

Giffords was gravely wounded in that attack. She survived and became a prominent gun safety advocate. Both Giffords and her husband, retired Nasa astronaut Mark Kelly, are longtime gun owners.

"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 in a statement.