Jo Cox death: Former US representative and shooting survivor Gabby Giffords 'sickened' by 'assassination' of MP

Giffords survived a 2011 shooting while speaking to her constituents in Arizona

Since her survival, Giffords has been an outspoken proponent of gun control Mandel Ngad/Getty

Former US Representative Gabrielle Giffords said she was “sickened” by the violent “assassination” of British MP Jo Cox, calling the attack a “manifestation of the coarseness in our politics”.

In a series of tweets, Ms Giffords expressed her grief and sympathy for Ms Cox, 41, after the Labour Party politician was beaten, stabbed, and shot while speaking to her constituents in West Yorkshire. Witnesses say the attacker yelled, “Britain first,” during his assault.

“The assassination of MP Jo Cox at the hands of a man driven by hatred is a manifestation of a coarseness in our politics that must stop,” Ms Giffords wrote in a tweet. “I grieve for Jo Cox’s family, friends, constituents, and for the people of Great Britain.”

Ms Giffords came close to death after a gunman shot her in the head while she, like Ms Cox, was speaking with voters at an Arizona supermarket in 2011.

Since Ms Giffords’ survival of the brutal attack that killed six people in the supermarket, she has become a vocal proponent of gun control in the US. The former Democratic representative recently came out in support of presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton with whom she aligns with in the ongoing gun debate.

“For far too long, the gun lobby has had a stranglehold on Washington. Members of Congress and even some of our presidents have been intimidated into inaction,” Ms Giffords wrote in a Medium post.

“Only one candidate for president has the determination and toughness to stand up to the corporate gun lobby - and the record to prove it. That candidate is Hillary Clinton.”

Ms Clinton also issued a statement Thursday night in response to the death of Ms Cox, and spoke out against political hatred and violence.

“I am horrified by the assassination of British MP Jo Cox, murdered earlier today in her district in Northern England,” she said. “It is cruel and terrible that her life was cut short by a violent act of political intolerance. …

“[We must honor Jo Cox] by rejecting bigotry in all its forms, and instead embracing, as she always did, everything that binds us together.”