At a White House press conference a month after the Newtown massacre, Obama backed restricting high capacity magazines and better background checks for gun buyers but acknowledged that some proposals may fail to pass in Congress.
"If there is a step that we can take that will save even one child from
what happened in Newtown, we should take that step," Obama said of the elementary school massacre that left 26 people dead.
"The belief that we have to have stronger background checks, that we can do a much better job in terms of keeping these magazine clips with high capacity out of the hands of folks who shouldn't have them, an assault weapons ban that is meaningful... those are things I continue to believe make sense.
"Will all of them get through this Congress? I don't know. But what's
uppermost in my mind is making sure I'm honest with the American people and with members of Congress about what I think will work," Obama said.
Obama said that cabinet members led by Vice President Joe Biden have "presented me now with a list of sensible common sense steps that can be taken to make sure that the kind of violence we saw at Newtown doesn't happen again."
Obama, who will be inaugurated for his second term next Monday, said he would present details on guns later this week.
Biden was tasked after the Newtown massacre to meet with key players on guns including the National Rifle Association, the powerful lobby which has adamantly opposed any restrictions on the US freedom to bear arms.
Obama stood by comments by Biden that the president could take some measures on guns by executive order -- which do not require approval by Congress.
Asked what action he could take on his own, Obama said that it could relate to "how we are gathering data, for example on guns that fall into the hands of criminals, and how we track that more effectively."
Gun rights advocates have responded angrily to suggestions that Obama would use an executive order and one prominent website likened him to Hitler.
Federal lists of gun owners are a longstanding bugbear for hardline US
conservatives who fear they would be a first step to confiscation.
"Part of the challenge that we confront is that even the slightest hint of some sensible, responsible legislation in this area fans this notion that somehow, here it comes, and that everybody's guns are going to be taken away," Obama said.
Obama said that his first term showed that he had not infringed on the
right to bear arms and suggested that criticism may have an "economic element," with the gun industry trying to increase sales.
AFP
