Two Years after Giffords Shooting, Gun Debate Rages On

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SACRAMENTO-

Two years after Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot and six people were killed by gunman Jared Loughner in front of an Arizona strip mall, the national gun debate shows no signs of slowing.

Since then, there have been mass shootings in Aurora, Colo., Clackamas County, Ore. and Newtown, Conn. With each shooting the debate over the 2nd Amendment takes center stage and gun sales spike.

“Guns are flying off the shelves,” said Sam Paredas, Executive Director of Gunowners of California.

People seem worried that the right to bear arms in the United States is in jeopardy because of lawmakers’ reaction to mass shootings. Paredas added that many gun stores have trouble keeping items in stock.

“I guess it’s part of the paranoia. They’re afraid that we’re coming to get their guns. That’s not really our purpose,” said Nick Wilcox, policy chairman of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “Our purpose is to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and mental patients, and domestic violence offenders.”

Wilcox lost his daughter to a deranged gunman.

Some common ground has been reached in the gun debate, but both groups are still widely separated.