Providence Journal photo
Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was seriously injured in the mass shooting that killed six people in Tucson, Ariz. two years ago, sitting with her husband, Mark Kelly, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington Wednesday.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- "For those of us who are trying to get something done" about gun control, the testimony Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was a "highlight," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said in an interview after the session.
Giffords, who suffered brain damage and partial paralysis in a mass shooting in Arizona two years ago, told the panel, "The time is now. You must act," the Associated Press reported.
Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, is a member of the committee, which is considering several bills that among other proposals would restrict the sale of assault weapons and magazines that can hold up to 100 rounds.
By contrast, Whitehouse said, witnesses on "the other side" -- anti-control activists who included Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association -- "were more in the paid-advocacy department."