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Mark Kelly leans his head on the shoulder of his wife and former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords as they attend a news conference asking Congress and the Senate to provide stricter gun control in the United States on March 6, 2013 in Tucson, Arizona.

For former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, gun violence is personal -- so she's going to begin her own in-person push for a new compromise to expand background checks for gun sales when she returns to Capitol Hill next week, NBC News has learned.

And the gun safety group she founded with husband, Mark Kelly, will begin making robocalls Thursday in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, looking to support the two senators who crafted the deal -- an attempt to demonstrate that the organization is committed to challenging the gun lobby's political infrastructure.

The National Rifle Association’s grassroots power is near-legendary, but in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., massacre, gun safety groups have tried to demonstrate that politicians should be worried about — and able to rely on help from — the other side, too.

"We are going to be there for the lawmakers who listen to the over 90 percent of Americans who support an expanded background check system. We recognize that up until now, the influence and power around this issue has been on the other side," said Pia Carusone, spokeswoman for Americans for Responsible Solutions. "Those days are over and we are going to be carefully watching the votes over the next few weeks."

The push from Giffords comes at a critical time for gun legislation in the Senate. The legislation cleared a critical hurdle Thursday as senators voted to open debate on a bill that would expand background checks, make gun trafficking a federal crime, and provide more funding for school safety.

But an important test comes with the vote on the background check compromise. Democratic leadership aides say they expect the tally on the background check amendment to reflect whether they'll win final passage of a gun bill.

Giffords, who was shot in the head as she met with constituents at a Tucson Safeway supermarket in January 2011, had already planned to be in Washington to dedicate a meeting room in the Capitol in honor of aide Gabe Zimmerman, who was killed in the shooting that wounded her.

She plans to ask for meetings with a number of Republicans — and Democrats — who the group believes might be open to supporting the background check compromise amendment to the gun legislation. Senators Pat Toomey and Joe Manchin announced their compromise proposal on Wednesday.

The new language still needs to be added to the bill, as its first amendment, and Democrats plan to try and vote to add it to the bill early next week.

Also next week, Kelly is set to give a speech at the University of Pennsylvania, where he'll praise Toomey's efforts.

In the meantime, the robocalls supportive of Toomey will target voters in suburban Philadelphia, a swing area where gun control is popular. In West Virginia, calls will go to white, male voters over 30, particularly those identified as veterans and gun owners.

"Hi, I'm Mark Kelly -- combat veteran, astronaut, and most importantly, husband to my brave wife Gabrielle Giffords. I'm calling to thank your senator, Joe Manchin, for working across party lines to sponsor critical legislation to protect the Second Amendment rights of West Virginians and to keep your families safe from gun violence," Kelly says in the West Virginia ad.

The calls urge recipients to contact Congress. Carusone said 185,000 robocalls are planned. The group will also email its grassroots supporters, which they say number 200,000.

Among the GOP senators who the Giffords group and other gun control advocates view as potential supporters: Jeff Flake of Arizona, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Dean Heller of Nevada, Susan Collins of Maine, and Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia.

There are, however, a number of Democrats who might oppose the bill: Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mark Begich of Alaska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Max Baucus of Montana. Pryor and Begich voted "no" on the motion to open debate on guns.

Related:

Gun bill clears key Senate hurdle with bipartisan support

Newtown passion moves Senate vote on guns

AFP - Getty Images, file

Jared Loughner, 24.

Jared Loughner hadn't been the same since he got fired from a job at a mall in Tucson, his parents said. He had been expelled from college. After a visit from campus police, his parents decided to hide a shotgun that Loughner owned in the trunk of their car in the garage so he didn't have access to it in the house.

A slew of details about Loughner, 24 -- who has pleaded guilty to killing six people and wounding former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and a dozen others in a Jan. 8, 2011, shooting spree in Tucson -- emerged as authorities investigating the rampage released more than 2,700 pages of documents that they have compiled.

Among the thousands of interviews, police reports and survivors' statements released Wednesday, one theme was constant about Loughner, who has since been diagnosed with schizophrenia: As his father, Randy Loughner, told investigators at the time, he "just doesn't seem right lately."

Loughner was fired more than a year before the shooting, his father told investigators after the shooting, according to the documents. Trying to have a rational conversation with his son became more and more difficult after that, he said.

"Lost, lost and just didn't want to communicate with me," Randy Loughner said.

After Loughner was expelled, things got worse: Randy Loughner said his son felt harassed by campus police, who came to the Loughner home and asked if there were any firearms in the house. Loughner had bought a 12-gauge shotgun in 2008; at the recommendation of Pima Community College campus police, who recommended any firearms be taken away, they hid the shotgun and an antique weapon they owned.

"He had a shotgun. And I took it away," Randy Loughner told police. "They suggested that if I had any firearms, to take them away. And I did."

A former friend of Loughner's, Zachary Osler, was an employee at a store where Loughner later purchased a Glock handgun used in the Tucson rampage. Osler described the awkward encounter he had with Loughner.

"His response is nothing. Just a mute facial expression. And just like, he, he didn't care," Osler told investigators. He said the change in Loughner's personality made him uncomfortable to be around. 

"He would say he could dream and then control what he was doing while he was dreaming," Osler said, adding Loughner never mentioned Giffords in conversation to him.

Loughner's mother, Amy, felt her son's behavior was so odd that she tested him for drugs. Loughner kept a journal that was written in illegible script, his father said. Despite their concerns, Loughner's parents said they never sent him to get help and he had never been diagnosed as mentally ill.

On the morning of the shooting, Loughner's father said his son had been "acting strange." Loughner had taken his father's car early in the morning, returned home briefly, left again, then returned home once more before leaving on foot with a backpack.

Pima County Sheriff's Deputy T. Audetat Jr. wrote in his police report that when he arrived at the scene, he saw a man being held down by "two or three people". He handcuffed the shooter; in the shooter's pocket, in addition to two Glock magazines, fully loaded, he found a folding knife and a credit card and ID card, he said. 

He described what the shooter was wearing: black beanie, black hooded sweatshirt, khaki pants. Another deputy noticed he was wearing earplugs, he wrote in his report.

One of the victims of the shooting outside the Safeway supermarket, Ronald Barber, told police of the rampage, "I was laying on my right side and I could see the blood coming out. You know, and, uh, and all I remember is seeing the congresswoman with her back to me, on her side. On her right side, uh, with her head up against the window, you know, of the Safeway. And Daniel, um, who is our intern, saying, 'Stay with me, congresswoman, stay with me.'"

Once in the patrol car, Loughner pleaded the Fifth Amendment repeatedly, Deputy Audetat wrote. At the police station, Loughner said very little besides, "I just want you to know that I'm the only person that knew about this," according to the deputy.

In his four-hour interview with authorities following the morning rampage, Loughner sat in restraints and was polite and cooperative with authorities, documents show. He asked to use the restroom at one point, saying thank you when he was permitted to. Although after a while he complained, "I'm about ready to fall over."

Loughner will spend the rest of his life behind bars but is not eligible for the death penalty because of his plea deal in the case. Giffords retired from her position in Congress a year after the shooting to focus on her recovery.

An Arizona gun store owner says he will not sell Mark Kelly the AR-15 rifle that the vocal advocate for tighter gun control bought earlier this month.

The manager of the Tucson, Ariz., store where Kelly, husband of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, bought the firearm has said that he will not complete the March 5 transaction, according to a statement posted on Facebook.

“While I support and respect Mark Kelly’s 2nd Amendment rights to purchase, possess, and use firearms in a safe and responsible manner, his recent statements to the media made it clear that his intent in purchasing the Sig Sauer M400 5.56mm rifle from us was for reasons other then [sic] for his personal use,” Douglas MacKinlay, owner of Diamondback Police Supply, said in the post.

The store was required to hold the rifle purchased by Kelly for 20 days, MacKinlay told the Associated Press after Kelly purchased the firearm.

“He is a U.S. citizen, an Arizona citizen expressing his Second Amendment rights to purchase and own a firearm,” MacKinlay told the AP at the time.

The gun store owner said in his statement posted on Monday that he had reconsidered the sale. MacKinlay did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday morning.

“In light of this fact, I determined that it was in my company’s best interest to terminate this transaction prior to his returning to my store to complete the Federal Form 4473 and NICS [National Instant Criminal Background Check System] background check required of Mr. Kelly before he could take possession of this firearm,” MacKinlay said in the statement.

The store sent Kelly a refund last Thursday, according to the statement. Kelly, an astronaut, has promoted tighter gun control since his wife, Giffords, was shot in the head at point-blank range by Jared Loughner in 2011.

The couple launched a new national campaign in January to combat gun violence. Americans for Responsible Solutions was launched “to encourage elected officials to stand up for solutions to prevent gun violence and protect responsible gun ownership.”

Kelly, who is a gun owner, has said his purchase was meant to demonstrate how easy it is to buy a semi-automatic rifle.

Related:

• Gabby Giffords launches group to counter gun lobby 
• Gabby Giffords group airs gun-control ads in Ariz., Iowa
• Gabby Giffords stars in new gun-control TV ad
• Video shows dog belonging to Mark Kelly's daughter attack sea lion

A Connecticut state representative is apologizing for a Facebook post warning Gabby Giffords to stay away, ahead of the former Arizona congresswoman's visit with Sandy Hook Elementary victims' families last week in Newtown.

"Gabby Giffords stay out of my towns," the post on the Facebook page for State Rep. DebraLee Hovey, a Republican who represents Newtown and Monroe, said last week.

Former U.S. Rep. Giffords survived a shooting in Tuscon, Ariz., in 2011 that killed six people, including a judge and a young girl. She and her husband have been advocates for stricter gun laws.

NBC Connecticut tried to reach Hovey about the comment, but she was unavailable. In the days after, there were several blogs and opinion pieces criticizing Hovey.

On Monday, she issued an apology for the comments she posted online.

"The remarks I made regarding Congresswoman Giffords' visit were insensitive and if I offended anyone I truly apologize," Rep. Hovey said in a statement.

"My comments were meant to be protective of the privacy of the families and our community as we work to move on, and were in no way intended as an insult to Congresswoman Giffords personally. Our community has struggled greatly through this tragedy, and we are all very sensitive to the potential for this event to be exploited for political purposes. This is what I wish to avoid," she added.

Read more news on NBCConnecticut.com

Hovey was in Florida last week to attend a board meeting of the Women in Government national organization when Giffords visited.

"The events of Dec. 14 affected all of us deeply and like many others I am still working through my grief and trying to come to terms with what happened, how we as a community and a state move forward and how we can prevent horrific events like this from occurring in the future," Hovey said.

Two years after shooting, Giffords takes on gun lobby

"My deepest condolences continue to go out to the families, the community of Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown and Connecticut," she continued.

Hovey's office said she has been a strong advocate for her district and has called for a dialogue on mental health issues, improving school safety and gun control.