The second anniversary of the rampage that wounded Gabrielle Giffords included the customary solemn remembrances and chiming of bells to recall the victims of the tragedy. It also included a new role for the wounded former congresswoman as a national gun control advocate. 
 
 FILE - In a Tuesday, June 12, 2012 file photo, in an election to fill former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, left, D-Ariz., congressional seat, Democratic candidate Ron Barber, right, celebrates a victory with... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2012 file photo, former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords blows a kiss after reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. Giffords and... (Associated Press) 
 
 Guns are piled inside a crate outside a police station in Tucson, Ariz., Tuesday, Jan 8, 2013, during Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik's gun buy back program. Kozachik asked people to turn in their... (Associated Press) 
 
 Nick Leo visits a memorial for shooting victims on Tuesday, Jan 8, 2013, in Tucson, Ariz., outside the Safeway supermarket where a gunman opened fire on former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords as she met with... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In a Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012 file photo, former Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, left, and her husband Mark Kelly holds her hand as they leave after the sentencing of Jared Loughner, in back... (Associated Press) 
 
 Giffords and husband Mark Kelly announced Tuesday that they had formed a political action committee to prevent gun violence and bring changes to laws, such as requiring comprehensive background check for firearms sales. They outlined the effort in an editorial in USA Today and in an interview on ABC News that also provided a new glimpse at Giffords' recovery since she was shot in the head two years ago by a mentally ill gunman. 
 
 She does speech and physical therapy and yoga. She has a service dog named Nelson that helps her keep balance and guides her. She recently gained more movement in her right foot and can walk faster. She still struggles with her vision, especially on her periphery. She said family is what makes her the happiest. 
 
 Giffords struggled to speak in complete sentences, but provided several one-word answers to anchor Diane Sawyer in describing her recovery and response to the shootings in Tucson and Connecticut. She used the word "enough" to react to the thought of children getting killed in a classroom. She said "daggers" to recount her tense, face-to-face encounter with shooter Jared Lee Loughner at his November sentencing. She said "sad" to describe his mental illness. She is frustrated that her recovery has not progressed more quickly. 
 
 Kelly and Giffords wrote in the op-ed that their Americans for Responsible Solutions initiative would help raise money to support greater gun control efforts and take on the powerful gun lobby. 
 
 "Achieving reforms to reduce gun violence and prevent mass shootings will mean matching gun lobbyists in their reach and resources," the couple wrote. 
 
 The anniversary also allowed Tucson residents to see firsthand the nation's gun debate play out in a busy parking lot outside a police station. 
 
 On one side was a councilman who supports gun control leading an effort to give $50 grocery store gift cards to anyone who turned in their firearms to police. Police documented each gun, took down names of those dropping them off and checked to be sure they were legal before loading them into a truck for destruction. 
 
 On the other side was an event organized by a state senator that turned into an open, unregulated and legal marketplace for firearms. A few hundred feet away, men holding signs reading "Cash for Guns" bought rifles and handguns. No paperwork, no questions asked. 
 
 "We have a fundamental hole in the private sales of guns. You can walk up right in front of a cop and buy a gun, no background check, nothing," said Councilman Steve Kozachik, who led the gift card program. "How much more flawed can the system be?" 
 
 The people who bought guns from each other declined repeated requests for comments. The senator and gun rights advocate didn't stay at the event, but earlier said he was angered by the timing of Kozachik's event and that paying $50 for a gun was such little money that it amounted to theft. 
 
 About 200 firearms, many of them old, some inoperable, were turned in during the event, police said. They were set to be destroyed later in the day. Kozachik said he handed out about $10,000 worth of Safeway grocery gift cards. 
 
 Giffords' announcement about her foray into the gun control debate brought back memories from the 1980s, when Jim and Sarah Brady formed the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Brady, then-President Ronald Reagan's press secretary, was wounded in the 1981 presidential assassination attempt by a mentally ill gunman. 
 
 Brady's organization has been among the most vocal champions of gun control since then, but it remains to be seen whether Giffords' group can better compete against the National Rifle Association and its huge fundraising and political clout. 
 
 The NRA spent at least $24 million in the 2012 election cycle, including $16.8 million through its political action committee and $7.5 million through its affiliated Institute for Legislative Action. By comparison, the Brady Campaign spent around $5,800. 
 
 And when it comes to direct lobbying of lawmakers, the NRA was also dominant. Through July 1, the NRA spent $4.4 million to lobby Congress, compared with the Brady Campaign's $60,000. 
 
 "This country is known for using its determination and ingenuity to solve problems, big and small. Wise policy has conquered disease, protected us from dangerous products and substances, and made transportation safer," Giffords and Kelly wrote. "But when it comes to protecting our communities from gun violence, we're not even trying _ and for the worst of reasons." 
 
 As a House member, Giffords was a centrist Democrat who represented much of liberal-leaning Tucson but also more conservative, rural areas. She supported gun rights and owned a Glock pistol. The couple said they still own two guns that are locked in a safe at their house. 
 
 Newtown Selectman Jim Gaston, who was among the officials who met with Giffords and her husband on Friday when they visited, said he and many others in town are behind her efforts. "I think she'll find support from the vast majority of my fellow Newtowners," Gaston said. 
 
 Gaston said he has a couple rifles himself and has always enjoyed shooting, but there is no reason for civilians to have semiautomatic weapons. 
 
 An attorney who lives in the Sandy Hook section of Newtown, Monte Frank, is organizing a bicycle ride from Sandy Hook to Washington, perhaps in March, to call for stronger gun control laws. He said he is eager to help Giffords in any way he can. 
 
 "It's been two years now that she was shot and people were killed. I would have thought that Congress would have done something when one of their own was the victim of unnecessary gun violence," Frank said. 
 
 In Tucson, residents rang bells at 10:11 a.m. _ the moment a mentally ill man using a handgun with an extended magazine opened fire on Giffords as she met with constituents outside a Safeway supermarket. Mayor Jonathan Rothschild rang a bell at a fire station 19 times _ one for each victim. 
 
 In response to the gift card buyback event, Republican state Sen. Frank Antenori, who did not win re-election in November, organized a gathering outside the same police station where about a dozen people offered cash for guns. He claimed the offer of just the gift card for a gun was like "stealing it." 
 
 "Can you name me one firearm in working condition that's worth $50 or less?" Antenori said. 
 
 Tom Ditsch, who stood watching both events, said neither accomplished anything. "Every gun that came in was an old gun, no assault weapons," he said with disgust. "They didn't even take any weapons off the streets that they wanted to." 
 
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 Associated Press writers Michael Melia in Hartford, Conn., and Bob Christie in Phoenix contributed to this report. 
 
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 Online: 
 
 http://americansforresponsiblesolutions.org ||||| Dear President Obama, 
 
 The recent mass shootings in Colorado and Wisconsin were terrible tragedies and painful reminders of the cost of gun violence. 
 
 More than 48,000 Americans will be murdered with guns during the next president’s term. That’s why I’m calling on you to step forward with a substantive plan to end gun violence. 
 
 What we more need from our nation’s leaders is more than just a moment of silence -- we need a moment of courage. 
 
 I demand a plan to end gun violence. ||||| After she was gravely wounded by gunfire two years ago in Tucson, Ariz., former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, imagined a life out of the public eye, where she would continue therapy surrounded by the friends, family and the Arizona desert she loves so much. 
 
 Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly Speak Exclusively to Diane Sawyer 
 
 But after the slaughter of 20 first-graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., last month, Giffords and Kelly knew they couldn't stay silent. 
 
 "Enough," Giffords said. 
 
 The couple marked the second anniversary of the Tucson shooting by sitting down with Diane Sawyer to discuss their recent visit to Newtown and their new initiative to curb gun violence, "Americans for Responsible Solutions." 
 
 "After the shooting in Tucson, there was talk about addressing some of these issues, [and] again after [a movie theater massacre in] Aurora," Colo., Kelly said. "I'm hopeful that this time is different, and I think it is. Twenty first-graders' being murdered in their classrooms is a very personal thing for everybody." 
 
 Full Coverage: Gabrielle Giffords 
 
 During their trip to Newtown, Giffords and Kelly met with families directly affected by the tragedy. 
 
 "[The] first couple that we spoke to, the dad took out his cell phone and showed us a picture of his daughter and I just about lost it, just by looking at the picture," Kelly said. "It was just very tough and it brought back a lot of memories about what that was like for us some two years ago." 
 
 Full Coverage: Tragedy in Newtown 
 
 "Strength," Giffords said she told the families in Newtown. 
 
 "Gabby often told them, 'You got to have strength. You got to fight for something,'" Kelly said. 
 
 The innocent faces of the children whose lives were abruptly taken reminded the couple, they said, of 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, the youngest victim to die in the Tucson shooting at a Giffords constituent event. 
 
 "I think we all need to try to do something about [gun violence]," Kelly said. "It's obvious to everybody we have a problem. And problems can be solved." 
 
 Giffords, Kelly Call for 'Common Sense' Solutions 
 
 Giffords, 42, and Kelly, 48, are both gun owners and supporters of the 2nd Amendment, but Kelly had strong words for the National Rifle Association after the group suggested the only way to stop gun violence is to have a "good guy with a gun." 
 
 There was a good guy with a gun, Kelly said, the day Jared Loughner shot Giffords and 18 other people, six fatally, at her "Congress on Your Corner" event. 
 
 "[A man came out] of the store next door and nearly shot the man who took down Jared Loughner," Kelly said. "The one who eventually wrestled [Loughner] to the ground was almost killed himself by a good guy with a gun, so I don't really buy that argument." 
 
 Instead, Giffords and Kelly are proposing "common sense" changes through "Americans for Responsible Solutions." 
 
 PHOTOS: Giffords' Remarkable Journey 
 
 The first change the couple hopes to enact is to require a comprehensive background check for the private sale of firearms. 
 
 "I bought a gun at Walmart recently and I went through a background check. It's not a difficult thing to do," Kelly said. "Why can't we just do that and make it more difficult for criminals and the mentally ill to get guns?" 
 
 The debate over high-capacity magazines and assault weapons has been renewed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. 
 
 Kelly, a veteran of Desert Storm and a gun owner, said he doesn't believe an extended magazine is necessary for the sport. 
 
 "An extended magazine is used to kill people," he said, "lots of people." 
 
 Loughner used a magazine that had 33 rounds in Tucson, while accused Aurora shooter James Holmes had a 100-round magazine. Adam Lanza, the Newtown shooter, used numerous 30-round magazines to load his Bushmaster AR-15. 
 
 Finally, Kelly hopes to address the issue of how the mentally ill are treated in the United States. Loughner, who was deemed incompetent to stand trial, pleaded guilty to 19 counts in August. 
 
 "Jared Loughner was clearly mentally ill," Kelly said. 
 
 "Sad," Giffords added. 
 
 Kelly said, "We have to learn how to identify these people and get them treatment. And we don't do a very good job at that." 
 
 At Loughner's sentencing in November, Giffords, unwavering, looked him straight in the eyes. It was the first time she and Kelly had seen Loughner in person. 
 
 "Daggers," Giffords said. 
 
 "Yeah, Gabby was staring daggers into his eyes," Kelly said. 
 
 Loughner stared back. 
 
 "He's highly medicated and the medication apparently makes him a little bit more rational, where he can understand things, but he's clearly mentally ill," Kelly said. "We wanted to make sure that he heard directly from us about the effect that what he did had on Gabby and the community." 
 
 Kelly delivered a statement, speaking to Loughner directly about the day that forever changed their lives: Jan. 8, 2011. 
 
 "Mr. Loughner, you may have put a bullet through her head, but you haven't put a dent in her spirit and her commitment to make the world a better place," Kelly said at the Nov. 8 sentencing. 
 
 "You have decades upon decades to contemplate what you did. But after today, after this moment, here and now, Gabby and I are done thinking about you." 
 
 Loughner was sentenced to seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years in prison without parole. 
 
 Giffords Recovery a 'Struggle' 
 
 Two years ago, doctors were unsure if Giffords would survive a gunshot wound to her head or what her prognosis would be. 
 
 She's made a remarkable recovery since then, but still has a long way to go. 
 
 "Physical therapy, yoga, speech therapy," she said. 
 
 Recovery is frustrating at times for the outgoing Giffords. 
 
 "She complains that her improvement is slow," Kelly said. 
 
 "But you're working hard," he said to his wife. 
 
 Giffords has a new companion, a service-dog named Nelson. 
 
 The former congresswoman, who loved being active outdoors before the shootings, has been able to slowly ease back into some of her favorite activities. 
 
 She's been able to ride a horse and hopes to take a bike ride soon with Kelly on a tandem bike he is getting modified. 
 
 This is not the life Giffords imagined, but her fighting spirit has been an inspiration for many. She plans to apply that same resolve in her mission to end gun violence, Kelly said. 
 
 "Gabby works very hard in her rehab," Kelly said. "Now we intend to work very hard on this new project."
– Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly sat down with Diane Sawyer last night to talk about their new gun control group and their emotional visit to Newtown in the wake of the school shooting there. Highlights from ABC News: Giffords and Kelly, both now retired, initially imagined a life out of the spotlight, but after the Sandy Hook shooting, Giffords says, she thought: "Enough." That was what convinced them it was time to take action. Giffords' message for Newtown was "strength," she says. "Gabby often told them, 'You got to have strength. You got to fight for something,'" Kelly adds. "Yes, a Glock," Giffords says when asked if she still owns a gun. "Gabby and I are both gun owners," says Kelly. "We are strong supporters of the Second Amendment. Why can't we just make it more difficult for criminals and the mentally ill to get guns?" They also oppose extended magazines: "An extended magazine is used to kill people," he says. "Lots of people." As for the argument that more people with guns could actually stop gun violence, Kelly says there was "a good guy with a gun" nearby when Giffords got shot, and he almost shot the wrong person. "After the shooting in Tucson, there was talk about addressing some of these issues, [and] again after [the movie theater massacre in] Aurora," Kelly says. "I'm hopeful that this time is different, and I think it is. Twenty first-graders being murdered in their classrooms is a very personal thing for everybody." The couple also talks about Giffords' progress since her injury. She calls it a "struggle," but says she is still improving. "You're walking faster, and if I tug you along, you can go even faster," Kelly says. And she plans to walk through the Capitol talking about gun control. Meanwhile, yesterday in Tucson, the second anniversary of the shooting that wounded Giffords and killed six others was marked by competing events in a police station parking lot, the AP reports. A councilman on one side of the lot gave out $50 gift cards to people who turned firearms in to police; a state senator on the other side organized an unregulated marketplace where guns were legally exchanged with no paperwork required. And Roxanna Green, mother of the youngest victim Christina-Taylor Green, released an ad calling for gun control.