By now, “Congress-woman Gabrielle Giffords” is a household name to anyone who follows national news.

Giffords is the Arizona Congresswoman who was shot in the head by an assailant at a Congress on Your Corner event Saturday. She remains in critical condition at University Medical Center in Tucson. Six others died and 13 others were wounded in the horrible attack. Among the dead were a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl.

For former Congressman Bobby Bright, who until last week represented the Wiregrass in Washington, the congresswoman is better known as “Gabby.”

“She is a Blue Dog Democrat, very centrist and fiscally conservative,” Bright said Monday. Ironically, she also is a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment, which gives Americans the right to bear arms.

Bright served with her on the Armed Services Committee and considers her a good friend. The two of them, along with Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, visited Afghanistan and Pakistan together in 2009.

Bright said that he has concerns about the divisive nature of today’s politics, which he’s expressed a number of times. Like Bright, Giffords had shared her concerns and had said she wanted to “tone the rhetoric down.”

A 22-year-old who was obsessed with grammar, Jared Loughner has been charged in the shootings.