Obama for new gun laws to stop 'ritual' of massacres

Background check system for gun buyers makes US vulnerable to mass shootings

The killing of 12 people by an alleged lone gunman at the US Navy Yard here has revived the demands for strong gun control measures, absence of which has been the major cause for "ritual" of shooting massacres, US President Barack Obama has said.

Obama, in an interview with the Spanish-language television network Telemundo, said the background check system for gun buyers is so weak that it makes the United States vulnerable to mass shootings, such as the one last December that killed 26 small children at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

"You know, I do get concerned that this becomes a ritual that we go through every three, four months, where we have these horrific mass shootings," he said.

"Everybody expresses understandable horror. We all embrace the families - and obviously our thoughts and prayers are with those families right now as they're absorbing this incredible loss. And yet we're not willing to take some basic actions," he said.

"You have a majority of the American people and even a large percentage of Republicans who are ready to move the country forward, and yet we keep on getting blocked.

"It's a challenge that I'm speaking out on, but ultimately we're also gonna meet pressure from the public to see if we can change how they do business up there," Obama said in the interview yesterday.

Earlier, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney also expressed frustration of the Obama Administration on the inability of the Congress to pass a strong gun control measure.

"The President believes that we ought to do everything we can to implement commonsense measures to reduce gun violence in America," he said.

An Indian-American defence contractor was among 12 people killed by a lone gunman who was shot down after he went on a brazen shooting rampage at the high-security Washington Navy Yard on Monday.