Gun control measure defeat shameful, says Barack Obama

A bipartisan compromise proposal to expand background checks for gun buyers, a ban on assault weapons and a ban on high-capacity gun magazines all failed to get the 60 votes needed under an agreement between the Republicans and Democrats.u00a0

I'm sorry: US President Barack Obama hugs a Newtown shooting victim's relative Natalie Barden after speaking on gun control in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. Pic/AFP

Those who defeated the legislation ‘decided it wasn't worth it', said Obama, blaming the defeat of the deal on ‘the gun lobby and its allies' and alleging that those against the legislation ‘wilfully lied' about its provisions.

"All in all, this was a pretty shameful day in Washington," he said, as families who lost loved ones in the Newtown school shooting stood around him.

Obama said ‘we can do more' to impose stricter gun laws and warned that ‘if this Congress refuses to listen to the American people... the real impact is going to have to come from the voters'.u00a0