White House: No Push For New Gun Laws

The White House says President Barack Obama will not push for stricter gun laws this election year.

Just one day ago Obama spoke passionately about the need to keep assault weapons off the streets, suggesting that he might plunge into that political fight and challenge Congress to act.

Instead, Obama's stand on the government's role is right where it was after the mass shooting in Colorado last week: Enforce existing law better.

That is same view held by his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, as both reach for broader and more politically appealing ways to keep guns away from killers.

Obama still wants Congress to reinstitute a federal ban on military-style assault weapons. But his spokesman, Jay Carney, says the president is not and has not been pushing for that ban.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)