Barack Obama demands Congress passes gun control measures
President calls on Congress to enact stronger firearm controls, while proposals face fierce opposition from influential pro-gun lobby
US President Barack Obama called on Congress to tighten gun laws after the latest in a "ritual" of shooting massacres, but lawmakers admitted there is insufficient support for new legislation.
A day after a gunman shot dead 12 people at a US Navy facility a few kilometres from the White House, Obama said on Tuesday that the "overwhelming majority" of Americans agreed with him on the need for common sense firearms reform.
"I do get concerned that this becomes a ritual that we go through every three, four months, where we have these horrific mass shootings," Obama said in an interview with the Telemundo Spanish-language television network.
"Everybody expresses understandable horror. We all embrace the families ... and yet we're not willing to take some basic actions."
Obama introduced a sheaf of measures including a plan for enhanced background checks on gun buyers and a ban on assault-style rifles after 20 children and six adults were killed in a school rampage in Newtown, Connecticut, last December.
Yet the package foundered in Congress, partly due to a fierce lobbying campaign by pro-gun groups and opposition from some Democrats from conservative states, leaving Obama to introduce a smaller set of measures using his executive powers.