(NECN/NBC News: Steve Handelsman) – President Barack Obama has decided to fight for a major tightening of gun laws recommended by the Joe Biden task force.
The Obama plan would ban assault rifles and high capacity magazines.
It would also require universal background checks, ending the exemptions for sales at gun shows and online.
The President has acknowledged many oppose those changes, but the National Rifle Association has lost support since the Newtown school massacre.
In a new Washington Post/ABC News poll 58-percent approve of an assault weapons ban.
Democrats are encouraged, but some Republicans will fight any new gun ban.
While Congress battles, the president also plans executive action.
He'll order a crackdown on gun buyers who lie on background checks and improvements to the databases those checks depend on.
Politics
That might have prevented the massacre at Virginia Tech in 2007 that left 32 dead.
Seung Hui-Cho's mental health history did not show up when he bought his handgun.
