Senator Manchin: 'Common sense and gun sense'

Two US senators have struck a bipartisan deal to expand background checks on gun buyers, boosting White House hopes for a firearms control law

In announcing the deal, one of the senators, West Virginia's Joe Manchin, told reporters that the death of 20 adults and six children in a mass school shooting had pushed them to find "common ground" on the issue.

"Truly the events at Newtown changed us all," he said. "Nobody here... could sit by and not try to prevent a day like that from happening again."