Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords will attend her first gun show on Sunday to promote stronger background checks since being shot in the head almost three years ago, the New York Daily News reported.
Giffords and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, will travel to Saratoga Springs Arms Fair to thank organizers for enforcing a background check "code of conduct" suggested by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
According to the new state law, all gun show attendees must have a background check completed before being able to purchase from vendors.
Giffords and Kelly plan to use their appearance in Saratoga to promote their national campaign to create a law that requires gun show vendors across the country the mandate background checks for all buyers.
"The state's model helps keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them - like criminals and the dangerously mentally ill - without infringing on our Second Amendment rights," Kelly said in a statement.
Schneiderman said the "code of conduct" he pressed in New York has been signed by 35 gun show operators in the state, making essentially every show follow the new background check law.
"Even as the American people have been shocked time and time again by mass shootings like Columbine, Virginia Tech, Tucson, Aurora, Newtown, and now the Navy Yard, Congress has produced one thing: stalemate and dysfunction," Schneiderman added.
"Here in New York, we have chosen a different path."
Cathy Petronis, a promoter of Saratoga's upcoming show, said she appreciated that Schneiderman worked with the gun show operators to come up with the new conduct.
"Certain states will fight background checks tooth and nail, but in New York State we don't have a problem with it," Petronis said.
The office of the Attorney General will be present at the show to make sure vendors and buyers are following the rule in addition to posted signs reminding both of the background check requirement.
