Obama vows to push new gun-control legislation in 2013

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama on Sunday reiterated his commitment to pushing new gun-control legislation in the first year of his second term.

"The question is are we going to be able to have a national conversation and move something through Congress," said Obama in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" broadcast on Sunday.

Twenty school kids and six adults were killed by one shooter in Sandy Hook Elementary shooting rampage in Newtown, Connecticut State, on December 14. The massacre has renewed calls for gun control.

In the interview, Obama called the shooting "the worst day" of his presidency and pledged to put his "full weight" behind putting forward a package of new gun-control measures.

Obama has announced a gun-control task force last week led by Vice President Joe Biden to make proposals for new laws and actions in January.

"I'd like to get it done in the first year. I will put forward a very specific proposal based on the recommendations that Joe Biden's task force is putting together as we speak. And so this is not something that I will be putting off," said Obama in the NBC's interview.

Obama also voiced skepticism about a proposal by a gun rights lobby group to put more armed guards in schools across the country to prevent future mass shooting tragedies at campus.

"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 somehow is going to solve our problem," said Obama.

National Rifle Association, the largest gun-rights organization in the country, has refused to support new gun-control legislation after the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre. The powerful US gun lobby called for armed guards for every school in the country, as the response of the gun industry.

California Senator Dianne Feinstein, a senior Democrat and leading liberal voice in the Senate, said that she would reintroduce an expired federal ban on assault weapons on the first day of the coming Congress.

Obama has expressed strong supports for the renewal of the assault weapons ban and would back new gun legislation in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre.

Last Thursday, Biden convened the first meeting of the White House's gun-control task force, bringing together law enforcement officials and Cabinet secretaries. Biden said there was "no reason " why an updated assault weapons ban could not pass Congress.