'Have some courage': Gabby Giffords nails Gohmert for blaming canceled town hall on her shooting

Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert has avoided holding a town hall with his constituents, citing in a recent statement, that he is choosing to avoid the matter because former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords "was shot at a public appearance" in 2011.

In his statement, Gohmert argued, "at this time there are groups from the more violent strains of the leftist ideology, some even being paid, who are preying on public town halls to wreak havoc." One woman at Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton's town hall on Wednesday night confronted the paid protestor conspiracy head on, telling her representative, "I'm not a paid protestor" before calling for an investigation of "President Trump, his campaign, and his administration."

Former Rep. Giffords responded to Gohmert on Thursday in a statement of her own, essentially telling lawmakers who have so far refused to hold town halls for their constituents to suck it up. The former Arizona Democrat explained how "town halls and countless constituent meetings were a hallmark of [her] tenure in Congress."

She said it was how she was able to serve the people she represented. Giffords' statement then added, "I was shot on a Saturday morning. By Monday morning my offices were open to the public. Ron Barber — at my side that Saturday, who was shot multiple times, then elected to Congress in my stead — held town halls."

"It's what the people deserve in a representative," Giffords wrote. "To the politicians who have abandoned their civic obligations, I say this: Have some courage. Face your constituents. Hold town halls."