Republicans reject new limits on guns

Republican leaders of the US Congress said on Tuesday they would not raise the minimum age for gun buyers, in a sign that one of President Donald Trump's proposals likely will not get far on Capitol Hill after a deadly Florida school shooting.

The second-deadliest shooting at a US public school has reignited the long-running national debate over gun rights, pitting many of the students who survived the Feb. 14 high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, against powerful gun rights groups like the National Rifle Association. Several of those students visited lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to press Congress to enact new restrictions on gun ownership.

Republicans in Congress have rejected those efforts after similar mass shootings in the past.

"We shouldn't be banning guns from law-abiding citizens. We should be focusing on making sure that citizens who should not get guns in the first place don't get those guns," House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan told a news conference.

Trump has suggested arming teachers and raising the minimum age to buy semiautomatic rifles to 21 from 18, but Ryan said Congress was not likely to act on either idea.