Obama to push new gun-control laws in 2013

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama said Sunday he will work to push new gun control measures in 2013 and called on Congress to reinstate the expired assault weapons ban.

"I'm going to be putting forward a package and I'm going to be putting my full weight behind it. I'm going to be making an argument to the American people about why this is important and why we have to do everything we can to make sure that something like what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary does not happen again," The Hill of Washington reported.

On Dec. 14, Adam Lanza, 20, shot and killed 20 first-graders and six adult staff members and wounded two at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Before the massacre, he killed his mother in their home, and killed himself afterward.

Vice President Joe Biden is leading a White House task force to draft proposals for presentation in January to help curb gun violence.

Obama said he would take a broad approach in addressing the role of violence in entertainment and focus on ways to improve mental healthcare.

Obama also called on Congress, saying he would meet with lawmakers of both parties, to reinstate the federal assault weapons ban and a ban on the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines, the Hill reported.

The National Rifle Association said it would oppose any new restrictions.

The NRA earlier this month recommended a national program to station armed guards in schools nationwide, a measure it said would be more effective at preventing future Newtown-type incidents.

"I am not going to prejudge the recommendations that are given to me. I am skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools. And I think the vast majority of the American people are skeptical that that somehow is going to solve our problem," the president said in response to the NRA's recommendation.

"I think there is a vast majority of responsible gun owners out there who recognize that we can't have a situation in which somebody with severe psychological problems is able to get the kind of high capacity weapons that this individual in Newtown obtained and gun down our kids," Obama said.