Gabby Giffords has been a powerful voice for gun control. A former member of Congress who was severely injured in a mass shooting where she was the primary target, it's not difficult to see why gun control advocates have rallied around her.

Over the last four years, she's been enjoying life. President Joe Biden has been a supporter, as has Vice President Kamala Harris. The White House routinely pushed gun control at every opportunity.

She's seen her side gain some ground.

Now, she's penned an op-ed at The Hill calling on President-elect Donald Trump to continue that progress.

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. 

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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.

Except that gun control doesn't enhance public safety.

Moreover, don't think for a moment that there is any common ground to be had with Gabby Giffords.

In April of 2023, Giffords said something in an interview with Time that tells us what she's really after. She's not interested in just some small restrictions to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. No, she wants them all. She literally said "no more guns," then lashed out when an aid tried to "correct" the record to say she meant gun violence. In that interview, the writer reported this in response to the attempt at changing the record: "'No, no, no,' she says. 'Lord, no.' She pauses another 32 seconds. 'Guns, guns, guns. No more guns. Gone.'"

With that in mind, why should President Trump listen to her at all?

We know definitively what she ultimately wants. She's said it. She said the quiet part out loud and we all know what it is she wants. Why give her any ground when we know for an absolute fact, based on her own words, where she wants things to go?

She's not going to be happy with universal background checks. She's not going to slink off into obscurity.

That's not even getting into the fact that the guy who shot her, the guy she says shouldn't have had a firearm, passed a background check when he purchased his guns. She leaves that out while pushing her agenda because, just like so many other anti-gunners, she will misrepresent any fact at all to push their agenda.

And her agenda involves disarming each and every one of us, totally and completely.

So no, Mr. Trump, I don't think you should listen to her. No one should.