Obama to unveil gun-control proposals Wednesday

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama will unveil a "comprehensive" package of gun violence reduction proposals on Wednesday, including renewing assault weapons ban and tougher background checks, said the White House on Tuesday.

"I can tell you that tomorrow the president and the vice president will hold an event here at the White House to unveil a package of concrete proposals to reduce gun violence and prevent future tragedies like the one in Newtown, Connecticut," said the White House spokesman Jay Carney during a daily briefing.

Obama, who has received gun violence reduction recommendations from the White House task force led by Vice President Joe Biden this week, will be joined by children from around the country who wrote him letters in the wake of Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting to express concerns over gun violence and school safety.

Carney stressed that Obama will take "a comprehensive approach" to address the gun issues through the package of proposals.

"He has also made clear that there are specific legislative actions that he will continue to call on Congress to take, including the assault weapons ban, including a measure to ban high-capacity magazine clips, including an effort to close the very big loopholes in the background check system in our country," said Carney.

The announcement will come more than a month after 26 people, including 20 schoolchildren, were killed in Sandy Hook Elementary shooting rampage in Newtown, Connecticut State, on December 14, 2012. The mass shooting tragedy has renewed calls for gun control. But National Rifle Association, the country's leading gun rights organization and lobby group, has refused to back some gun control proposals including the renewal of the expired assault weapon ban.

A new poll found that most Americans support some of the new proposals to counter gun violence, but still divide sharply on how much priority the Obama administration and Congress should give to gun issues.

The Washington Post-ABC poll released on Tuesday showed that 58 percent of Americans support renewing the assault weapons ban. Sixty-eight percent of the public, both Democrats and Republicans, see the economy as the clear top priority for federal action. About a third of all Americans -- 53 percent of Democrats and only 19 percent of Republicans -- believe that enacting stricter gun control laws should be a high priority.