Obama offers new gun-control steps

WASHINGTON (AP):The Obama administration ann-ounced new steps yesterday on gun control, curbing the import of military -surplus weapons and proposing to close a loophole that lets felons and others circumvent background checks by registering guns to corporations.

The administration has failed to find support in Congress for its gun-control proposals this year. The issue became a top one for President Barack Obama after a gunman killed 20 young children and six adults at a Connecticut school in December.

Obama has added two more executive actions to a list of 23 steps the White House determined Obama could take on his own to reduce gun violence.

Vice President Joe Biden unveiled the new actions yesterday at the White House.

One new policy will end a government practice that lets military weapons, sold or donated by the US to allies, be reimported into the US by private entities, where some may end up on the streets.

The White House said the US has approved 250,000 of those guns to be reimported since 2005. Under the new policy, only museums and a few other entities like the government will be eligible to reimport military-grade firearms.