Joe Biden, the US vice president, has warned that politicians will pay a price if they refuse to back measures to stem gun violence.
Speaking in Connecticut, just 16km away from the site of the Newtown school massacre, Biden said there had been a change in public sentiment toward guns which made it less risky for politicians to back the kind of legislation the White House is pushing Congress to pass.
"What I say to my colleagues who will watch this and listen to this, I say to you if you're concerned about your political survival, you should be concerned about the survival of our children," he said.
Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane reports from Connecticut.
