By Mary Shinn | Cronkite News
Minutes after he shared a stage with former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Tuesday, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said he still plans to oppose a bill supported by Giffords that calls for expanded background checks for gun buyers.
Flake announced his opposition to the bipartisan Senate bill Monday night on Facebook, just hours before he joined Giffords at a ceremony honoring Gabe Zimmerman, one of six people killed in the 2011 Tucson shooting that severely wounded Giffords and 12 others.
She and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, started Americans for Responsible Solutions to fight for gun-control legislation shortly after the December shooting at a Newtown, Conn., grade school that left 20 children and six teachers dead.
Kelly, appearing Tuesday morning at a newsmaker breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, called the timing of Flake’s statement “not ideal.”
Even though Flake and Giffords are friends, Kelly said Americans for Responsible Solutions would back a challenger to Flake in the future “if there was the right candidate out there” and the senator opposes gun-control measures.
“Friendship is one thing, saving people’s lives, especially first graders, is another,” said Kelly, referring to the Newtown victims.
