Colorado shooting: Barack Obama weighs in on gun law

Barack Obama has called for tighter background checks on US gun-owners, making his first foray into the politically charged gun control debate since the Colorado shooting.

"I believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals. That they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities," Obama told a civil-rights group in New Orleans.
The remarks come less than a week after the shootings and follow calls from prominent gun control advocates, including the New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, for the two presidential candidates to have an open an honest debate over guns.

Both Mr Obama and his opponent Mitt Romney have supported curbs on assault rifles in the past, but have been wary of challenging national public opinion polls that show waning support for tougher gun laws in recent years.

"Every day and a half the number of young people we lose to violence is about the same as the number of people we lost in that movie theatre," Mr Obama added in remarks to the National Urban League.
26th July 2012