Gunned-down US politician to stay off work until she recovers

shooting victim United States Representative Gabrielle Giffords said she will not return to Congress until she is better.

Struggling to form the words in her first extended interview since being shot in the head in a rampage by a gunman in Tuscson, Arizona, in January she said: “No. Better,” in a response to a question about whether she wanted to return to Congress.

As she gestured as if to help her form the words, her husband Mark Kelly completed the thought: “She wants to get better.”

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The Arizona shooting, which left six people dead and more than a dozen injured, reopened a national debate over gun use and ownership. The right to bear arms is guaranteed by the US Constitution. State laws on gun control vary widely.

Proponents of gun control argue that the states with more guns have higher death rates but some Americans blame incidents on social ills as broken families or a culture of violence, or just bad luck.

The story of the recovering congresswoman and her astronaut husband has riveted people in the US. The couple published their memoir yesterday.

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