Giffords thanks GOP Sens. McCain, Flake for gun measure vote

{mosads}Giffords’s tweet came just after the Senate voted 68-31 to move forward on a Democratic gun bill. Sixteen GOP senators voted in favor of the measure, with two Democrats voting against.

Giffords suffered a gunshot wound to the head during a shooting massacre in Tucson, Ariz., in 2011. Since then, she has been a vocal proponent of gun control legislation, urging expanded background checks and bans on the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity clips.

Giffords and her husband launched their own PAC earlier this year to support candidates who back gun control. Reports Thursday said the former lawmaker was also headed to Washington next week to personally lobby senators to pass the gun bill.