WASHINGTON (AP) ― The White House made clear Thursday that new legislation on gun control will not be on the political agenda this election year, as President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney engaged in their most extensive discussions on the issue since last week’s Colorado theater shootings.
Their comments revived ― if briefly ― a sensitive debate that has faded to the background in national politics and been virtually nonexistent in this year’s close presidential race.
While Obama called for tougher background checks on Americans trying to buy a gun, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president is not pushing for new gun control legislation, though he still supports a ban on assault weapons. Carney said Obama intends to focus on other ways to combat violence.
The White House had faced fresh questions since the Colorado shootings about whether Obama, a strong supporter of gun control while a senator, would make an election-year push for stricter measures. Authorities say the firearms used to kill 12 people and injure dozens were purchased legally.
“A lot of gun owners would agree that an AK-47 belongs 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 said in a speech Wednesday to the National Urban League civil rights group.
