Obama's gun measures face difficulties in Congress

President Barack Obama's sweeping gun-control package faces an uncertain future in Congress, where many Republicans are rejecting his proposals and some fellow Democrats are stopping well short of pledging immediate action. The country's most powerful gun group has promised the "fight of the century."                   

Obama's $500 million plan marks the most comprehensive effort to tighten gun laws in nearly two decades as he tries to build on the high emotions over last month's school shooting in Connecticut, where a gunman with a legally purchased high-powered rifle left 20 young children and six adults dead. Obama has called that day the worst of his presidency.       

The president's announcement on Wednesday appealed to both common sense and conscience, but frustrated observers of Congress say the growing partisan divide there is little swayed by either.                            

Seeking to circumvent at least some opposition in Congress, Obama signed 23 executive actions Wednesday that don't require lawmakers' approval, including orders to make more federal data available for background checks and end a freeze on government research on gun violence. But he acknowledged that the steps he took on his own would have less impact than the broad measures requiring approval from Congress.


AP