By Kathy Groob, Publisher ElectWomen Magazine

The horror of the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona transcends gender, race and all of our other culturally diverse groups in the United States.  However, when one the few women who currently serve in Congress is taken down by a fellow citizen, it causes tremendous shock and grief among women, and especially among women involved in politics.

By all accounts, Gabrielle Giffords is a woman of passion and courage. Demonstrated first by her commitment to public service, passion for her state and country; second by her strength of character displayed throughout her most difficult and divisive campaign for re-election in 2010.  She was a target of many outside groups, despite the bi-partisan track record that she accumulated during her service in Congress and in the Arizona Senate.  Giffords persevered, kept positive and focused and was pronounced the winner, despite tremendous odds against her.

An outpouring of support, prayers and wishes for her full recovery has been displayed across the airwaves.  It is our hope that she will recover and take her place again in Washington.

An even greater tragedy would be if future women were deterred by fear from stepping into the arena; from running for office and from serving their constituents to their fullest ability.  We must have hope that out of this great tragedy, a more positive tone in the political climate will emerge.  We also hope that a full assessment of security measure for all elected officials will be conducted that in the future, better protection will be provided.