Shootings to recur in absence of strict gun control laws: Obama

Washington, Jun 17: US President Barack Obama has warned that horrific mass shooting incidents like the recent one in Orlando will continue to occur unless tougher gun control laws are adopted.

"We can't anticipate or catch every single deranged person that may wish to do harm to his neighbours, or his friends, or his coworkers, or strangers. But we can do something about the amount of damage that they do," Obama told reporters.

"Unfortunately, our politics have conspired to make it as easy as possible for a terrorist or just a disturbed individual like those in Aurora and Newtown to buy extraordinarily powerful weapons - and they can do so legally," Obama said.

Obama along with Vice President Joe Biden met victims and families of the weekend's mass shooting in which a self-radicalised Afghan-origin youth pledging allegiance to the ISIS killed 49 people in a gay club in Orlando, Florida.

Another 53 were injured during the shooting that took place in the wee hours of Sunday.

"This debate needs to change. It's outgrown the old political stalemates. The notion that the answer to this tragedy would be to make sure that more people in a nightclub are similarly armed to the killer defies common sense. Those who defend the easy accessibility of assault weapons should meet these families and explain why that makes sense," Obama said.

"And if we don't act, we will keep seeing more massacres like this - because we'll be choosing to allow them to happen. We will have said, we don't care enough to do something about it," Obama added.

If we don't act, we will keep seeing more massacres like this: Obama

Republican presidential presumptive nominee Donald Trump has said that the casualties could have been far less if people were allowed to carry guns. Obama has been seeking tougher gun control laws that make it difficult for people to purchase such weapons of mass casualties.

The strong gun lobby assisted by a Republican-controlled Congress is preventing Obama to accomplish his goal of a tough gun control laws.

"Today, once again, as has been true too many times before, I held and hugged grieving family members and parents, and they asked, why does this keep happening? And they pleaded that we do more to stop the carnage," he said.

In his presidency Obama has made seven such trips to meet families and victims of a mass shooting. Hoping that Senators would "rise to the moment and do the right thing", Obama said he is pleased that the Senate will hold votes on preventing individuals with possible terrorist ties from buying guns, including assault weapons.

"I've said this before - we will not be able to stop every tragedy. We can't wipe away hatred and evil from every heart in this world. But we can stop some tragedies. We can save some lives. We can reduce the impact of a terrorist attack if we're smart," Obama said.

PTI