It was day two of Gabrielle Giffords' whirlwind nationwide tour to revive the push for tougher gun laws. The former congresswoman's husband, Mark Kelly, woke up early, placed his black case of firearms into the car trunk and raced across a vast stretch of Alaskan highway to practice target shooting.
If the gun debate were a war, then Kelly was breaching enemy territory. Reporters were asked not to disclose the name of the shooting range because its owners did not want it linked with Giffords' "Rights and Responsibilities" tour. The awning that shielded Kelly as he loaded his weapons sported a sign thanking one of the range's key sponsors: Friends of the National Rifle Association.
Kelly, a former astronaut and fighter pilot, fired away — first with a shotgun and later with a Winchester Model 70, an iconic hunting rifle that's powerful enough to kill caribou.