Obama government seeks to use executive authority on gun-control loophole

The increase in number of mass shootings in the US, California being the 355th in 2015, according to a mass-shooting tracker on social media, has become a sore point in the gun-control debate. While the Barack Obama government is attempting to ban the sale of guns at gunshows without background checks, Congress has been more or less objecting to the amendments.

The White House is trying to plug this loophole to ensure better safety using executive authority, but legalities have slowed the process.

The shooting on Wednesday in California was the second of the day in the US. The mass-shooting tracker maintained by a Reddit forum defines a mass shooting as one where there are four or more victims.

The stalemate continued in the Senate on Thursday as the amendments suggested by the Democrats to add gun control in budget measures was blocked by the Republicans.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) had proposed the provision to not allow sale of guns to those on the government's anti-terrorist "no fly" list, but the proposal was shot down 54-45 by the Senate.

Senators Joe Manchin III (D-W Va) and Patrick J Toomey (R-Pa)'s proposal to tighten the background-check system was shot down by a 50-48 vote.

Senator Mark Steven Kirk of Illinois was the only Republican who voted for Senator Feinstein's proposal.

Among Republican leaders, Kirk, Toomey, John McCain of Arizona and Susan Collins of Maine voted for tightening the background check system with the democrats.

Among Democrats everyone voted for the two measures except Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who sided with the Republicans and Mark R Warner of Virginia, who did not vote.

The issue came to the limelight after the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which had occurred almost three years ago, reports LATimes.

"We won't be able to stop every violent act, but if there is even one thing that we can do to prevent any of these events, we have a deep obligation, all of us, to try," said Obama after the shooting had occurred, according to the White House website.