US president Barack Obama has promised to deliver proposals for tightening gun laws and curbing violence by next month, declaring the time for action was overdue after the massacre of children at a Connecticut primary school.
Even before the proposals are drafted, the US president pressed politicians to reinstate a ban on military-style assault weapons, close loopholes that allow gun buyers to skirt background checks and restrict high-capacity ammunition clips.
“The fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an excuse for doing nothing,” Mr Obama said in his most detailed comments on guns since last Friday’s killing of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. “The fact that we can’t prevent every act of violence doesn’t mean we can’t steadily reduce the violence.”
Gun control measures have faced fierce resistance in Congress for years but that may be changing now because of last week’s violence.
Since then, Mr Obama has signalled for the first time in his presidency that he is willing to spend political capital on the issue and some prominent gun-rights advocates in Congress - Democrats and Republicans alike - have expressed willingness to consider new measures.
Still, given the long history of opposition to tighter gun laws, there is no certainty the legislation Mr Obama backed yesterday or the proposals he will send to Congress next month will become law.
Many Americans consider arms ownership a cherished freedom and have been outspoken in their opposition to tighter gun laws.
The Arizona Citizens Defence League, a group that lobbies for pro-gun state legislation, said guns should be allowed in Arizona schools to provide protection against shootings such as the one in Connecticut.
Some conservative politicians elsewhere in the country have echoed that view.
Mr Obama tasked Vice President Joe Biden, a long-time gun control advocate, with overseeing the administration-wide process to create those proposals. Beyond firearms’ restrictions, officials will also look for ways to increase mental health resources and consider steps to keep society from glamourising guns and violence.
Mr Biden will start his discussions today when he meets law enforcement officers from around the country.
Mr Obama’s January deadline underscores the desire among White House officials to respond swiftly to the Newtown shooting. Obama aides worry that as the shock of the shooting fades, so too, will the prospects that pro-gun politicians will work with the White House to tighten restrictions.
“I would hope that our memories aren’t so short that what we saw in Newtown isn’t lingering with us, that we don’t remain passionate about it only a month later,” the president said.
In Newtown, mourners overlapped at back-to-back funerals that started on Monday and will continue all week. A seven-year-old boy who had dreamed of being a firefighter and a heroic first-grade teacher who died while trying to shield students from the carnage were among latest victims laid to rest.
And in what has become a dark rite of passage in America, survivors of a 2005 school shooting that killed 10, including the gunman, on an Indian reservation in Minnesota travelled to Connecticut to offer comfort to the community.
They said they sought to repay the support they received nearly eight years ago from survivors of the 1999 Columbine High School killings in Colorado, which left 15 dead, including the two gunmen.
Emphasising the need to take action, Mr Obama said eight people had been killed by guns across the US since the Newtown shooting, among them a four-year-old boy and three law enforcement officers.
The president has called for a national dialogue on gun violence before, after other mass shootings during his presidency, but his rhetoric has not been backed up with concrete action.
And some of the gun measures Mr Obama has signed has actually lessened restrictions on guns, allowing people to carry concealed weapons in national parks and in checked bags on Amtrak trains.
The president bristled at suggestions that he had been silent on gun issues during his four years in office, but acknowledged that the Newtown shooting had been “a wake-up call for all of us”.
The shooting appears to have had a similar impact on several long-time gun backers in Congress. West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat and avid hunter, has said “everything should be on the table” as Washington looks to prevent another tragedy, as has 10-term House of Representatives Republican Jack Kingston of Georgia.
There was little response from Republicans yesterday following Mr Obama’s statements. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent who has been sharply critical of the president’s lack of action on gun issues, called the effort a step in the right direction.
Mr Obama, seeking to ease the fears of gun owners, reiterated his support for the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, which gives citizens the right to bear arms. And he said no effort to reduce gun violence would be successful without their participation.
“I am also betting that the majority, the vast majority, of responsible law-abiding gun owners would be some of the first to say that we should be able to keep an irresponsible, law-breaking few from buying a weapon of war,” he said.
He also challenged the National Rifle Association to do “some self-reflection”. The gun lobby is a powerful political force, particularly in Republican primaries, and has previously worked to unseat politicians who back gun control measures.
The NRA, in its first statements since the shooting, pledged on Tuesday to offer “meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again”.
The Biden-led task force will also explore ways to improve mental health resources and address ways to create a culture that does not promote violence.
The departments of Justice, Education, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security, along with outside groups and politicians, will be part of the process.
AP