I was shot 14 years ago today. Let's build on progress made to reduce gun violence.

There’s nothing like the beginning of a new Congress. Much like students starting a school year, the air is thick with excitement, but also uncertainty. You’ll find yourself standing on the floor of the House with 434 colleagues from every corner of the country — many of whom you have nothing in common with but the fact that you are in that room together. 

But I haven’t been a member on the House floor in a long time. Fourteen years ago today, I was shot in the head because a dangerous man was able to buy a gun. Six innocent people were killed — Christina-Taylor, Dorothy, Judge John Roll, Phyllis, Dorwan and Gabe. I’ll never forget their names. Twelve others were injured. 

The shooting, an assassination attempt that targeted me, turned my life upside down. I had to relearn how to walk, and I still struggle to speak. I had to resign from Congress, the best job I’ll ever have. 

That day in Tucson captured national attention — a sitting congresswoman shot in the head. But the truth is that today, being shot isn’t rare. Gun violence is a national crisis and now the leading cause of death for American kids and teens. More than 125 people die each day. That doesn’t account for the tens of thousands more who, like me, have their lives changed in an instant by a bullet. 

The year I was shot, 11,208 people were murdered with a gun in the U.S. The number of annual gun homicides nearly doubled to 21,000 after the pandemic. Just as smoking once was, gun violence is so prevalent that the Office of the Surgeon General recently issued a public health warning about gun violence, just as it did about cigarettes a generation ago.

The statistics are mind-boggling. It’s hard to comprehend the scale of preventable heartbreak this country encounters every single day. Imagine a loved one — a child, parent, neighbor or friend — never texting you back again. Never calling. Never laughing. Never smiling. Now imagine how you’d feel knowing that loss could have been prevented had our lawmakers prioritized public safety over the corporate gun lobby and gun industry profits.

Despite the ongoing crisis, progress has been made. The outgoing Biden administration has done more to save lives than any administration in the history of our country. President Biden and Vice President Harris created the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. They worked with members of both parties to pass and sign the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun bill in decades. The federal government is finally going after gun traffickers, straw purchasers and rogue gun dealers who skirt the law. 

But now, mere weeks until a new president takes the oath of office, much of America is on edge. I get it. 

During the campaign, President-elect Trump said he would undo all that progress — he even bragged about doing “nothing” on guns in his first term. But Trump, who himself has acknowledged the need for background checks, would be wise to reconsider. 

Laws to keep guns away from domestic abusers and criminals are just commonsense, and incredibly popular with voters across the political spectrum. GIFFORDS, my gun violence prevention organization, has data to back it up, and I’m sure the NRA does too. Ninety-two percent of Republicans support background checks on all gun sales, 80 percent support cracking down on ghost guns, and 78 percent support requiring a license to own a gun — and the numbers are even higher among Democrats and Independents. 

As Trump kicks off his second term, he and his team should understand that rolling back effective protections to reduce gun violence is a lose-lose proposition. Most importantly, doing so will weaken public safety and Americans will die as a result. But it will also upset a huge majority of voters. Gun industry executives and their lobbyists are the only people who want weaker gun laws. 

I urge the soon-to-be President Trump to reevaluate his priorities before taking the oath of office, and side with public safety, above all else. Just like the American people, a Trump administration has nothing to gain and everything to lose by making it easier for dangerous people to get guns. Believe me, I know.

Gabrielle Giffords served in Congress from 2007-2012. She is the founder of Giffords, an organization which seeks to save lives from gun violence.