Steve Scalise Gave Speech Honoring Gabrielle Giffords After She Had Been Shot

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), shot in the hip Wednesday morning , took to the chamber’s floor six years ago to deliver a speech lauding after another representative who had been severely wounded by a gunman days earlier. 

Following Wednesday’s shooting, C-Span tweeted his 2011 speech  honoring then-Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) after she was shot in the head in Tucson while meeting with constituents in her district.

“As all of us here have known, and as people all throughout the nation are witnessing, Gabby Giffords is a fighter,’’ Scalise said at the time. “Let’s keep in our prayers the hope that she once again joins us back here on the floor of this, the people’s House.”

Scalise also spoke about standing in support of American freedoms. 

“Our founding fathers made no mistake when they included the right to peaceably assemble among the first tenants of democracy,” Scalise said. “The inexplicable violence’’ in Tucson “is a stark, tragic reminder that we must never waiver in our steadfast support of the First Amendment and the precious freedoms it affords us every day.” 

NBC reports Scalise, 51, is out of surgery and in stable condition after being shot in the hip while practicing with other lawmakers at a field in Alexandria, Virginia, for the annual congressional charity baseball game scheduled for Thursday.

Scalise was among five injured, including the suspected shooter, according to Alexandria Police Chief Michael Brown.

Six people were killed in the Jan. 8, 2011, shooting in which Giffords, 47, was wounded. She served another year in office before resigning. She and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, are now active in gun control efforts. 

Watch Scalise’s speech below.