Washington, Apr 18 (EFE).- Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who resigned her House seat after being shot and left with lifelong health issues, on Thursday called the senators who voted this week to block a measure that would have required background checks for gun buyers "cowards." "Shame on them," she said in an op-ed in The New York Times. The Senate in a Wednesday vote rejected the amendments to the gun control law, including the bipartisan agreement on more stringent background checks.

A US congresswoman said Wednesday she received death threats this week for introducing a bill that would tighten the nation's gun laws. Representative Carolyn Maloney said she informed police that someone phoned her New York congressional office on Tuesday and threatened her over her pending legislation, which comes three months after a school massacre in neighboring Connecticut. "Yesterday, several death threats were phoned into my New York office in response to news reports about a bill I authored requiring gun owners to have insurance," Maloney said in a statement.

A US gun store refused to sell a rifle to the husband of former US congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who has become a champion of the anti-gun lobby since her 2011 shooting. Diamondback Police Supply said it had given former astronaut Mark Kelly a refund for the Sig Sauer M400 5.56mm assault rifle he ordered, because it suspected he had ulterior motives for seeking to buy a weapon. The Arizona gun supplier's owner Douglas MacKinlay said he would give the rifle to a local police group and donate $1,295 to an organization which teaches children about guns.

Victims of shooting violence deserve to see lawmakers vote on bills proposing tougher gun laws, President Barack Obama said Tuesday, after a spate of massacres across the United States. "I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. But this time is different," Obama told lawmakers in his State of the Union address. "Each of these proposals deserves a vote in Congress."