Friends -

For many of us, the new year is usually a time for optimism and new commitments. For me, it's a difficult yet powerful occasion for reflection. Ten years ago today, I came close to losing my life. I was hosting a "Congress on Your Corner" event outside a Safeway store. A would-be assassin opened fire on me and my constituents, killing six and injuring thirteen others.

My recovery has been challenging and filled with difficult setbacks. They require me to find the courage to keep pushing myself to move forward, day after day. After all these years, I've learned that it's not the setback that defines us, but how we respond.

So instead of focusing on what I can't do, I've tried to set tougher and tougher goals for myself at every stage of my recovery.

The toughest challenge of all is the one Mark and I started to tackle on January 8, 2013 -- eight years ago today -- when we launched a new organization, now named Giffords, to make our communities safer from gun violence.

I would have never believed that what we started with an Op-Ed in USA Today would have grown into the nationwide powerhouse it is today. That we would successfully lobby Congress and states across the country to act. That our message of common sense and responsibility would resonate with millions of Americans -- from red states and blue states, gun owners and non-gun owners alike, all committed to saving lives from gun violence.

We have seen great successes along the way:

* We have helped pass more than 400 gun safety laws in 45 states. There are people alive today, families that are still whole, because of the work we've done on this issue.

* We've helped elect champions for gun violence prevention to statehouses, governor's mansions, the House of Representatives, the United States Senate, and now, with President-elect Joe Biden's victory, to the White House.

* We've also helped defeat some of the gun lobby's greatest allies, flipping the House and making good on our promise that if the current Congress wouldn't work to change our gun laws, then we'd elect one that will.

* We've defended lifesaving gun laws in the courts and fought to debunk the gun lobby's dangerous argument that more guns in more places will make our country safer.

While I still cannot make sense of the terrible tragedy that changed my life forever 10 years ago, I know that something positive has come from that day. Because of your support and the work we've done together, I wake up every morning even more determined to make the most of my second chance at life, and my second chance at service.

Now, with a new president and a new Congress, we have new opportunities ahead of us.

Going forward, we'll keep fighting for progress. Sometimes victories will come quickly, and it will feel like the wind is at our backs. And at other times, the change will be slower than we'd like and we'll feel weary in the fight.

I know that feeling all too well. But know this:

Every single day, our movement grows stronger. Every single day we recruit more allies to the fight. Every single day we move closer to, not farther from, our goal of making our communities safer from gun violence.

Despite our setbacks, we know that it's how we respond -- how we keep fighting -- that defines us.

Thank you for being in this fight with me. If we're going to end the gun violence epidemic, there's only one way to do that:

Together.

All my best,

Gabby Giffords

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Gabby has dedicated her life's work to making our communities safer from gun violence so no one will have to go through what she experienced 10 years ago today. With a new president and a new Congress, now is our chance to make significant changes to our gun laws. And that means saving lives. But Gabby cannot do it alone.

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