US President Barack Obama has introduced a new gun control strategy to curb violence in the nation.
More than 30,000 deaths are recorded in the US each year as a result of gun violence, while over 4 million Americans were victims of assaults, robberies, and other gun-related crimes in the last decade.
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The new strategy adopted by the US Government recommends strictly organised background checks to be conducted by licensed sellers.
Small-scale businesses selling guns in stores, at gun shows, or over the Internet will have to seek mandatory approvals from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
The Social Security Administration will include information about beneficiaries who are prohibited from possessing a firearm for mental health reasons in the background check system.
The administration is proposing a new $500m investment to increase access to mental health care.
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By GlobalDataThe new strategy coincides with the third anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, which killed 20 children and six adults.
Obama said: "All across America, survivors of gun violence and those who lost a child, a parent, a spouse to gun violence are forced to mark such awful anniversaries every single day.
"And yet Congress still hasn’t done anything to prevent what happened to them from happening to other families."
"We know that we can’t stop every act of violence. But what if we tried to stop even one?"
The directives also include research into gun safety technology, which will be conducted by the US Departments of Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security.
Image: President Barack Obama announces steps that the administration is taking to reduce gun violence, in the White House. Photo: courtesy of Pete Souza / White House Photo.
