Obama unveils sweeping gun control proposals

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. President Barack Obama has unveiled the most sweeping gun control proposals in two decades, setting up a showdown with firearms rights advocates, BBC News reported.

He called for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and wider background checks on gun buyers. The Democratic president also signed 23 executive actions, which do not require congressional approval.

A month after the school massacre in Connecticut, he said gun-control reforms could wait no longer.

Obama unveiled the proposals at the White House on Wednesday, Jan 16, flanked by children who wrote him letters after December's Newtown shooting, which left 20 children and six teachers dead.

Obama said: "if there is even one thing we can do to reduce this violence, if there is even one life that can be saved, then we've got an obligation to try."

The top U.S. gun lobbying group, the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA), said the proposals were "not a solution to the crisis we face as a nation". "Only honest, law-abiding gun owners will be affected and our children will remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy," the group said in a statement.

The president urged Congress: to reintroduce an expired ban on new purchases of "military-style" assault weapons, such as those used in several recent mass shootings; limit ammunition magazines to 10 rounds and pass a ban on possession and sale of armor-piercing bullets; introduce background checks on all gun sales; currently private purchases and some transactions at gun shows are exempt; introduce harsher penalties for gun-traffickers, especially unlicensed dealers who buy arms for criminals; finally approve the appointment of the head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The U.S. has one of the highest rates of civilian gun ownership in the world. The second amendment of the U.S. constitution states that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed".