Obama considers unilateral action on US gun violence

As he approaches the final year of his presidency, President Barack Obama intends to try and fulfil one of his outstanding policy goals by restricting access to guns.

Following weeks of discussions with officials and legal advisers about how he could use his executive powers to circumvent the Republican-controlled Congress, Mr Obama will on Monday sit down with his top law officer to see how he can make it harder for “a dangerous few” to get their hands on guns.

Obama tried and failed in the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in which 26 adults and children were killed, to try and tighten access to weapons. He was unable to make genuine headway in the face of opposition from Republicans and powerful lobbying groups such as the National Rifle Association (NRA).

But as mass shootings have continued to play out with relentless regularity, Mr Obama has continued to look for ways to tackle gun safety, by measures such as improving background checks.

Following the San Bernardino shooting in December in which 14 people were killed and more than 20 injured, the Obama administration let it be known he was looking for ways to bypass Congress, with the presumption that Republicans would block any efforts to further restrict access.

Speaking during his weekly radio address, Obama said he received so many letters from from parents, teachers and children about the “epidemic of gun violence” that he could not “sit around and do nothing”. “The gun lobby is loud and well-organised in its defence of effortlessly available guns for anyone,” he said.

 “The rest of us are going to have to be just as passionate and well-organised in our defence of our kids.” The Associated Press said the issue of gun laws remains one of the most divisive in the United States, particularly in the wake of a the string of mass shootings.