Barack Obama unveils tougher gun control plans

Barack Obama has urged the US Congress to approve universal background checks for anyone trying to buy a gun, and to pass a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

The White House also announced 23 steps to tighten up gun control which the President can take unilaterally.

They follow an outcry over the mass shooting at a school in Newtown, Connecticut last month, when a gunman killed 27 people, including 20 children and his own mother.