Newtown shooting: Obama calls for new US gun controls

  • Published
Media caption,

Debate over America's gun laws

US President Barack Obama has called for change to America's gun controls.

Americans have been left in shock after 26 people - including 20 pupils - were killed in a shooting at Sandy Hook school in the US state of Connecticut on Friday.

"These tragedies must end and to end them we must change," Mr Obama told people at a vigil at the school in Newtown on Sunday.

Image caption,

Girls at a candlelit memorial in Newtown

'Not alone'

"I come to offer the love and prayers of a nation," Mr Obama also said in his speech.

"You are not alone in your grief. All across this land of ours we have wept with you."

Mr Obama said he would use whatever powers he had to try and stop this kind of thing from happening again.

It's thought there are 300 million guns in the US, where the laws aren't nearly as strict as they are in the UK.

The US Constitution, which sets out the country's rights and freedoms, says people are allowed to keep and bear arms.