Gun control

BURKESVILLE, Ky. -- As Stephanie Sparks cleaned the kitchen, her 5-year-old son, Kristian, began playing with a rifle he was given last year. She stepped out onto the front porch, poured grease out of a frying pan for the dogs and "heard the gun go off," a Kentucky coroner said.

Authorities said the boy had fatally shot his 2-year-old sister, Caroline, in the chest.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama and his gun control allies say Senate rejection of expanded background checks and other restrictions won't stop their drive to reduce firearms violence. But their path to enacting gun curbs this year seems blocked by the National Rifle Association, and supporters of restrictions appear befuddled about what it will take to push legislation through this Congress.

WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan proposal to expand background checks to more gun buyers is in jeopardy. The pool of potential Republican votes that Democrats will need to push the measure through the Senate has dwindled, and President Barack Obama was calling lawmakers Monday as both sides hunted support for a nail-biting showdown vote expected this week.

WASHINGTON -- Two pivotal senators announced a bipartisan deal Wednesday on expanding background checks to more gun buyers, an agreement that could build support for President Barack Obama's drive to curb firearms violence.

NEW YORK -- Lobbying for gun control in the United States often means proving how much you like firearms.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose state recently passed some of the strictest gun control measures in the country, often reminds people he is a hunter. Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who founded a gun control advocacy group after surviving a gunshot wound to the head, says she and her husband keep two guns in a safe at home. Vice President Joe Biden boasts that he owns two shotguns. And the White House recently released a photo of President Barack Obama skeet shooting at the Camp David presidential retreat, trying to silence skeptics of his claim in an interview that he has actually shot a gun.

NEWINGTON, Conn. — Only a few parking spaces were free and customers lined up 50-deep Tuesday at Hoffman’s Gun Center, on what may be one of the last days that stores are allowed to sell assault-style weapons and high- capacity ammunition magazines.

“Whenever the government tells me I can’t do something, I want to do it,” John O’Lenechuck, 32, said after he bought a part for a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle, which would be banned under a proposed bill that could be approved as soon as Wednesday. “I need to get it while it is still legal.”