US Democratic senators have introduced a set of proposals intended to form the basis for gun control legislation.
Included in the initiative, which comes a week after 10 people died in a mass shooting in Oregon, are calls for eliminating gaps in the process for background checks and for cracking down on "straw purchases", where one person buys a gun on behalf of someone else who cannot legally purchase a firearm.
Senators Chuck Schumer of New York and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan outlined the plan in a press conference on Thursday, where they were joined by a score of their colleagues, including Vermont's Bernie Sanders, who is seeking the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.
Their proposals would prohibit sales of firearms to "all domestic abusers" and ensure that no one can buy a gun without a completed background check.
The senators launched the renewed drive for gun control a day before President Barack Obama was to visit Roseburg, Oregon, to meet with families of the victims of last week's massacre at Umpqua Community College.
"These principles will be a rallying point for a public that is eager for congressional action, and will be the basis for future legislation that we will demand receive a vote," the senators said in a letter to colleagues.
Obama says that Congress' failure to pass what he calls "common-sense" gun control legislation has been the biggest frustration of his presidency.
The slaughter of 20 children and six adults at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 led to the introduction of a bipartisan bill providing for universal background checks, but that measure was defeated.
While Schumer and Stabenow expressed confidence that virtually all Senate Democrats would support their bill, Republican control of both chambers of Congress cloud the prospects for passage.
A prominent Senate Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, has already submitted a much more modest bill that would encourage the states to share more information about people with mental problems to be included in the federal background check database.
Gun control advocates accuse the National Rifle Association and weapons manufacturers of using campaign contributions to influence lawmakers with an eye toward blocking meaningful legislation.
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