With her husband, Mark Kelly, by her side, gunshot survivor and former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords testifies before the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of Legislative Support Services Photo Department)

NRA members, Gabby Giffords  and other survivors of gun violence, archbishops, pastors, rabbis, lobbyists and concerned citizens were among those who testified before the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday afternoon on a pair of rival gun-related initiatives to the Legislature.

Initiative 594 would require universal background checks on gun purchases in Washington State. I-591 would prohibit government agencies from confiscating guns or other firearms from citizens, without due process, or from requiring broader background checks on firearm recipients unless a uniform national standard is required.

The first testimony heard was one in support of I-594, delivered by Mark Kelly, husband of former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. In it, Kelly recalled the 2011 attack on Giffords during a constituent meeting in Tucson, Arizona, which left 18 injured and six dead. Kelly, a former astronaut and now the head of American’s for Responsible Solutions, urged lawmakers to remember the Café Racer shooting in 2011, the four off-duty police officers murdered in Lakewood in 2009 , and the assault on the Jewish Federation in Seattle in 2006.

Giffords was next to address the panel at the televised hearing beamed from a jammed hearing room near the Capitol. Her testimony was short; she mentioned the daunting task of recovering from a gun wound to the head.

“Fight, fight, fight,” she urged Washingtonians, shaking and slightly slurring her speech – a permanent side effect of the brain trauma.

NRA lobbyist Brian Judy testified against I-594. Judy, who offered condolences to both Giffords and all victims of gun violence, said he was also “disappointed that these tragedies will be exploited to enact an overreaching gun control law.”

Judy said I-594 is a clear example of “regulatory excess,” advising lawmakers against any measure enabling government agencies to keep records of gun owners and their weapons.

Alan Gottlieb, from the Citizens Committee for the Right to Bear Arms, also warned that the loose writing of I-594 could make it a crime to loan a firearm to a friend or relative over 18 years old without going through the transfer process.

The sponsor of I-594, Cheryl Stumbo, testified right after Kelly and Giffords, recounting her motivation for supporting and sponsoring the initiative. As a victim of the 2006 Jewish Federation shooting in Seattle, Stumbo said she views 594 as a way to prevent gun violence and save taxpayers the expense of paying prisons costs, as well as medical bills of those wounded in shootings.

The Senate Law and Justice Committee scheduled a public hearing on both initiatives Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in the John A. Cherberg Building.

UPDATE: The Senate Law and Justice Committee held its hearing on I-591 and I-594, with many of the same people who testified in the House hearing also appearing before the Senate panel. Giffords and Kelly did not appear before the Senate committee.  The House and Senate hearings on the two initiatives can be viewed on TVW’s website.

The Secretary of State’s Elections Division plans to complete a signature check on I-591 by the end of this week. I-594 has already been certified to the Legislature. Most observers expect the Legislature to take no action on either measure. That would automatically advance both initiatives to the fall ballot.